Longview Sells 2.7 Million General Dynamics Shares for $954 Million

Longview Asset Management sold 2,707,871 shares of General Dynamics for roughly $954 million over 25 transactions between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1, reducing its position in the defense contractor by about 10%.

Longview’s holdings fell from 27,096,788 shares on Aug. 26 to 24,388,917 shares on Oct. 1. The manager sold 2,638,137 shares during September, equal to 9.6% of General Dynamics’ total trading volume of 27,591,000 shares that month.

Longview had disclosed plans on Aug. 28 to sell as many as 3,387,098 shares, equal to 12.5% of its position at the time. Longview said the sales reflected its internal portfolio allocation and were unrelated to General Dynamics.

General Dynamics shares have declined 13% since Aug. 26, while broad U.S. stock indexes rallied over the same period. The company’s market capitalization has fallen by more than $10 billion since Longview began selling.

The Henry Crown family office first acquired General Dynamics shares in 1959. General Dynamics generated $52.6 billion in revenue in 2025 and had a $136.5 billion backlog at the end of its second quarter.

In July, the U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics’ electric boat unit a share of a combined $76.6 billion award covering 14 submarines.

The sales occurred before General Dynamics announced that Danny Deep will become chief executive officer on Jan. 1, 2027. Phebe Novakovic will become executive chairman. The leadership transition was previously detailed in General Dynamics’ plan for Deep to lead a strategic review.