Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $76.99 Million Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 292,187 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 5,390 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of General Dynamics worth $76,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research cut General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD opened at $243.95 on Thursday. General Dynamics Co. has a 1 year low of $239.87 and a 1 year high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $260.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.10. The firm has a market cap of $65.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.61.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

General Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About General Dynamics

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.