Wealth Science Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,591 General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Wealth Science Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,591 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,265,349,000 after purchasing an additional 677,665 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 5.4% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,627,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,236,900,000 after acquiring an additional 187,435 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,136,525,000 after acquiring an additional 863,392 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,770,714 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $603,813,000 after acquiring an additional 58,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 118.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $567,372,000 after acquiring an additional 901,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE:GD opened at $318.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.38. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52-week low of $262.84 and a 52-week high of $369.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $347.97 and a 200 day moving average of $346.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.44.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The aerospace company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $14.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.77 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 8.01%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. General Dynamics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.100-16.200 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.59 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 41.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Mark Rayha sold 4,370 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.79, for a total transaction of $1,524,212.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 7,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,767,997.44. This trade represents a 35.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 10,153 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.95, for a total value of $3,603,807.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,834,176.25. This represents a 20.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 51,260 shares of company stock worth $18,133,971 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GD shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on General Dynamics from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday. Argus increased their price target on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $385.00 to $380.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $408.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $389.78.

General Dynamics Company 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.