Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Invests $15.20 Million in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 42,900 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,197,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 1,725.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in General Dynamics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 88 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Paladin Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Center for Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 93 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised General Dynamics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $410.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 51,568 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $382.58, for a total value of $19,728,885.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $293,231,119.06. This represents a 6.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,884,695. This represents a 33.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 100,228 shares of company stock valued at $38,052,853 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock opened at $384.50 on Monday. General Dynamics Corporation has a 1 year low of $306.77 and a 1 year high of $400.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.32. 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’s fifty day moving average is $374.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $355.88.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $13.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. General Dynamics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.800-16.900 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.97 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $1.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics’s 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.