General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $283.80.

Several research firms recently weighed in on GD. StockNews.com cut shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,955,023,000 after purchasing an additional 133,061 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,615,185,000 after buying an additional 1,755,276 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,667,549 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,212,024,000 after buying an additional 345,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6.5% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,228,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $962,711,000 after buying an additional 259,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,081,488,000 after buying an additional 147,800 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $288.74 on Friday. General Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $202.35 and a fifty-two week high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $279.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $259.49.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

General Dynamics Company Profile

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.