VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems has acquired a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation, purchasing 43,300 shares valued at approximately $12.6 million.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Hold" on General Dynamics with a price target of $327.44, while several firms have recently increased their price objectives significantly.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.8%, to be paid on November 14th.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 43,300 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $12,629,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at $272,464,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 34.8% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,748,380 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $749,252,000 after acquiring an additional 709,782 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 120.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,261,525 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $343,866,000 after acquiring an additional 690,349 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 4.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,502,305 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,499,819,000 after acquiring an additional 256,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 25,390.6% during the first quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 203,670 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $55,516,000 after acquiring an additional 202,871 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on GD shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on General Dynamics from $328.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $327.44.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

NYSE GD opened at $331.33 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.47. General Dynamics Corporation has a 1-year low of $239.20 and a 1-year high of $347.37. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $326.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.26.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 33,740 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.20, for a total transaction of $10,634,848.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 45,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,244,518.40. The trade was a 42.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 8,150 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.18, for a total value of $2,617,617.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,818 shares in the company, valued at $7,328,685.24. This trade represents a 26.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,020 shares of company stock worth $86,414,503 in the last ninety days. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

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