Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Position in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 30.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,944 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,355 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $12,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in General Dynamics by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,140,437 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,249,220,000 after acquiring an additional 119,664 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 25.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,439,720 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,003,444,000 after purchasing an additional 691,340 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,385,573 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $695,776,000 after purchasing an additional 9,283 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,712,190 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $499,377,000 after purchasing an additional 41,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,598,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $466,320,000 after buying an additional 16,459 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Paddock sold 20,360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.92, for a total value of $6,818,971.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 36,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,272,808.48. The trade was a 35.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GD has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research raised their target price on General Dynamics from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Vertical Research upgraded General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $380.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on General Dynamics from $408.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.47.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $347.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $350.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $338.60. The stock has a market cap of $94.05 billion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.44. General Dynamics Corporation has a 1 year low of $239.20 and a 1 year high of $369.70.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.83%.

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.