Federated Hermes Inc. Increases Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,476 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its stake in General Dynamics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 16,615 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,378,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 4,360 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,577,000. Finally, Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC increased its stake in General Dynamics by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC now owns 9,543 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,514,000 after buying an additional 1,221 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 analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $315.00 to $305.00 in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Baird R W cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $294.47.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD opened at $275.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $261.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $273.30. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. Research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company 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.