Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Invests $5 Million in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in General Dynamics, purchasing 18,343 shares worth approximately $5 million during the first quarter.
• In recent insider transactions, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares for $50.6 million, representing an 18.85% ownership decrease, while VP William A. Moss sold 17,700 shares, reducing his stake by 51.56%.
• General Dynamics recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.8% and a payout ratio of 40.27%.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,343 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $5,000,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Guys Formula LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at $1,692,000. Advisory Resource Group grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 19,200 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 16,144 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,401,000 after buying an additional 2,568 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 33,644 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $9,171,000 after buying an additional 8,073 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 16,522 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $4,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $298.00 to $342.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $284.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $315.78.

General Dynamics Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:GD traded down $3.39 on Friday, hitting $326.23. 578,791 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,383,298. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $313.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.42. The company has a market cap of $87.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.50. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52 week low of $239.20 and a 52 week high of $330.18.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $13.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 17.99%. General Dynamics's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.26 EPS. General Dynamics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.050-15.150 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Malcolm sold 1,210 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.04, for a total value of $386,038.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,249,741.44. This represents a 10.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 33,740 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.20, for a total value of $10,634,848.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 45,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,244,518.40. This trade represents a 42.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 279,439 shares of company stock worth $87,495,956 in the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.