General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Now Covered by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $400.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on GD. UBS Group set a $393.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $398.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $420.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.42.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $350.96 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $353.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. General Dynamics has a 52-week low of $239.20 and a 52-week high of $369.70.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The aerospace company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $14.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.77 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.57% and a net margin of 8.01%.General Dynamics’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. General Dynamics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.100-16.200 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.59 per share. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.17%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.09, for a total value of $11,655,934.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,394,759.13. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 10,153 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.95, for a total value of $3,603,807.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,834,176.25. This represents a 20.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,260 shares of company stock valued at $18,133,971. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 118.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $567,372,000 after buying an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after acquiring an additional 863,392 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 3,306.5% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 871,052 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $297,029,000 after acquiring an additional 845,482 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in General Dynamics by 25.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,439,720 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,003,444,000 after acquiring an additional 691,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,265,349,000 after purchasing an additional 677,665 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Dynamics Company 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.