SouthState Corp Reduces Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

SouthState Corp decreased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,018 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in General Dynamics by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after buying an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 2.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,366,124,000 after buying an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after acquiring an additional 638,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,493,030,000 after acquiring an additional 24,464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on General Dynamics from $244.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Vertical Research cut General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, William Blair cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.71.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of GD opened at $265.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $258.04 and its 200 day moving average is $278.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $239.87 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. Sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 43.99%.

General Dynamics declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,297,195.12. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Dynamics Profile

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.