Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 127.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,166 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,899 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,338,169,000 after purchasing an additional 528,769 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,323,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,812,058,000 after purchasing an additional 294,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,065,462 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,039,742,000 after purchasing an additional 195,604 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,307,389 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,786,786,000 after buying an additional 114,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,443,453 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,159,273,000 after buying an additional 110,536 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on General Dynamics from $387.00 to $377.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $384.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $391.15.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of GD opened at $370.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $100.22 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $353.26 and a 200 day moving average of $350.78. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52-week low of $293.95 and a 52-week high of $380.71. 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 (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.64 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.59 per share. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.03%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total value of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,457,677.75. This trade represents a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,884,695. This trade represents a 33.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 78,190 shares of company stock worth $27,041,022 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Profile

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.