General Dynamics Corporation $GD Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in General Dynamics Corporation by 8.3%, selling 242,939 shares and owning approximately 1.00% of the company valued at $733,814,000.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $3.74 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenues reaching $13.04 billion—an 8.9% increase year-over-year.
• General Dynamics declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.8%, reflecting a payout ratio of 40.27%.

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,692,107 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 242,939 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 1.00% of General Dynamics worth $733,814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,551 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 783.3% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 106 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 12,408 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $3,382,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 82.9% during the 1st quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 2,596 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GD shares. Barclays lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Citigroup lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $348.00 to $368.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 price target on General Dynamics and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $298.00 to $342.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.78.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD traded down $0.41 on Thursday, reaching $322.40. 943,690 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,405,420. The company's 50-day moving average price is $309.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $283.12. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $239.20 and a fifty-two week high of $326.02. 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 market capitalization of $86.72 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.50.

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

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. General Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 40.27%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 129,090 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.57, for a total value of $40,478,751.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 769,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at $241,325,666.99. The trade was a 14.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP William A. Moss sold 17,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.40, for a total value of $5,600,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 16,627 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,260,782.80. This trade represents a 51.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 458,260 shares of company stock worth $138,125,545 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is 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.