Insider Selling: General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Director Sells $2,000,200.00 in Stock

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,000,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,884,695. This trade represents a 33.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GD traded down $6.47 during trading on Monday, reaching $343.54. 1,578,728 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,389,480. The company’s 50 day moving average is $341.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $347.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52 week low of $278.23 and a 52 week high of $369.70.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 40.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $388.40.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 118.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $567,372,000 after purchasing an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after buying an additional 863,392 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 831.1% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $251,405,000 after buying an additional 658,081 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $199,130,000 after acquiring an additional 582,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,338,169,000 after acquiring an additional 528,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics is a major American aerospace and defense contractor that designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of products and services for government and commercial customers worldwide. Headquartered in the United States (Reston, Virginia), the company supplies platforms and systems used by armed forces, civil authorities and private operators across multiple domains including air, land, sea and cyber.

Its principal activities span several operating businesses: a business aviation unit that develops and supports Gulfstream business jets; land systems that produce armored combat vehicles and related logistics and sustainment services; marine systems that design and construct submarines and surface ships for navies; and mission systems and information technology operations that provide command-and-control, communications, cybersecurity and systems-integration services.