General Dynamics jumps as Jefferies upgrade spotlights Marine Systems growth and submarine demand

General Dynamics (GD) is up 5.5% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The move appears primarily tied to a bullish analyst action that emphasized accelerating growth in General Dynamics’ Marine Systems segment, helped by sustained U.S. submarine demand. With investors already focused on defense spending and backlog durability, an upgrade and higher price target can quickly re-rate a large-cap contractor.

Details:

Jefferies upgraded General Dynamics to Buy from Hold and lifted its price target to $400 from $380, framing Marine Systems as a key bridge from “steady” contractor to a faster growth profile.

The upgrade thesis highlighted Marine Systems as roughly one-third of company revenue and pointed to recent outperformance versus company-wide expectations, including strong year-over-year growth in first-quarter Marine Systems sales.

The call also leaned on a favorable medium-term setup for submarine construction and related industrial-base investment, which can support multi-year volume and margin improvement for the shipbuilding business.

Today’s rally likely reflects investors positioning around that segment-level narrative (submarines/shipbuilding capacity) rather than a single new contract announcement.

Sources:

Investing.com, TipRanks, MarketScreener

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$GD Insider Trading Activity

$GD insiders have traded $GD stock on the open market 12 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 12 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $GD stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

MARK LAGRAND BURNS (Executive Vice President) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 82,863 shares for an estimated $28,644,522.
PHEBE N NOVAKOVIC (Chairman and CEO) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 32,918 shares for an estimated $11,656,060.
DAVID PADDOCK (Vice President) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 20,360 shares for an estimated $6,818,920.
MARK RAYHA (Vice President) sold 4,370 shares for an estimated $1,524,194
MARGUERITE AMY GILLILAND (Executive Vice President) sold 3,819 shares for an estimated $1,350,020
GREGORY S GALLOPOULOS (Senior VP, Gen. Counsel, Sec.) sold 3,729 shares for an estimated $1,321,359

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint.

$GD Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 1,080 institutional investors add shares of $GD stock to their portfolio, and 928 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

CAPITAL RESEARCH GLOBAL INVESTORS removed 1,768,057 shares (-31.1%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $606,832,523
HAMILTON WEALTH, LLC removed 1,333,722 shares (-99.7%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $457,760,064
BLACKROCK, INC. added 876,094 shares (+4.9%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $300,692,982
PACER ADVISORS, INC. removed 871,052 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $293,248,366
HOLOCENE ADVISORS, LP removed 863,254 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $296,286,037
MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS LTD. added 637,578 shares (+44.8%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $218,829,521
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP removed 631,947 shares (-63.7%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $216,896,849

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Quiver Quantitative API 13F endpoint.

$GD Government Contracts

We have seen $4,227,807,540 of award payments to $GD over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

THE CLOUD PRODUCTS AND TOOLS (CPT) CONTRACT IS USED TO PROVIDE CLOUD-BASED INFRASTRUCTURE FROM COMMERCIAL C...: $278,735,291
GLOBAL SECURITY ENGINEERING&SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICES.: $251,544,552
AWARD OF TASK ORDER 47QFCA210051-NAWCAD WOLF SHIP AND AIR C5ISR SYSTEMS SUPPORT: $151,081,427
FILE CONVERSION SERVICES: $122,738,298
THE PURPOSE OF THIS IS TO INCREMENTALLY FUND AND AWARD THE CITS TASK ORDER.: $110,188,057

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard. You can access data on government contracts through the Quiver Quantitative API government contracts endpoint.

$GD Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $GD stock 6 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 4 have been purchases and 2 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $GD stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ has traded it 3 times. They made 3 purchases worth up to $45,000 on 03/31, 03/23 and 0 sales.
REPRESENTATIVE GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR. has traded it 2 times. They made 1 purchase worth up to $15,000 on 01/09 and 1 sale worth up to $15,000 on 02/10.
REPRESENTATIVE JULIE JOHNSON sold up to $15,000 on 12/18.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard. You can access data on congressional stock trades through the Quiver Quantitative API Congress trades endpoint.

$GD Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $GD in the last several months. We have seen 2 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

B of A Securities issued a "Buy" rating on 01/30/2026
JP Morgan issued a "Overweight" rating on 12/19/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $GD, check out Quiver Quantitative's $GD forecast page.

$GD Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $GD recently. We have seen 8 analysts offer price targets for $GD in the last 6 months, with a median target of $400.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Sheila Kahyaoglu from Jefferies set a target price of $400.0 on 06/11/2026
John Godyn from Citigroup set a target price of $364.0 on 05/18/2026
Ken Herbert from RBC Capital set a target price of $385.0 on 04/30/2026
Seth Seifman from JP Morgan set a target price of $400.0 on 04/30/2026
Gavin Parsons from UBS set a target price of $371.0 on 04/30/2026
David Strauss from Wells Fargo set a target price of $400.0 on 04/01/2026
Ronald Epstein from B of A Securities set a target price of $400.0 on 01/30/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.