VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Acquires Shares of 141,280 General Dynamics Corporation $GD

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 141,280 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,047,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 454.0% during the 2nd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 180,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,088,000 after buying an additional 148,262 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 2nd quarter valued at $21,368,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,781,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $7,914,000. Finally, Professional Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 4.0% in the second quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. now owns 67,028 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $23,744,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GD. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $385.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on General Dynamics from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on General Dynamics from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $435.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $410.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,000,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at $3,884,695. This trade represents a 33.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 51,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $382.58, for a total transaction of $19,728,885.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 766,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $293,231,119.06. The trade was a 6.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 100,228 shares of company stock valued at $38,052,853. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $359.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $97.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.94, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.32. General Dynamics Corporation has a 1 year low of $306.77 and a 1 year high of $400.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $378.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $357.36.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.28. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The business had revenue of $14.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. General Dynamics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.800-16.900 EPS. Analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.99 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.80%.

About General Dynamics

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.