Principle Wealth Partners LLC Makes New $8.81 Million Investment in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Principle Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 24,875 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,812,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,338,169,000 after buying an additional 528,769 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,323,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,812,058,000 after acquiring an additional 294,456 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,065,462 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,039,742,000 after acquiring an additional 195,604 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,307,389 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,786,786,000 after acquiring an additional 114,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,443,453 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,159,273,000 after purchasing an additional 110,536 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 43,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.04, for a total value of $16,323,767.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,923,716.68. This represents a 49.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,884,695. The trade was a 33.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 100,228 shares of company stock worth $38,052,853. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $390.67 on Tuesday. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $306.77 and a fifty-two week high of $400.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $371.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $354.81. 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 stock has a market cap of $105.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.33.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $14.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.52 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 8.18%.The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. General Dynamics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.800-16.900 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $430.00 target price on General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised General Dynamics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $410.89.

General Dynamics 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.