Wall Street Zen Upgrades General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) to “Strong-Buy”

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

GD has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on General Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.40.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $359.92 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $340.32 and its 200 day moving average is $346.59. General Dynamics has a 1 year low of $275.49 and a 1 year high of $369.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.The company had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that General Dynamics will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total value of $12,596,179.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at $13,457,677.75. This represents a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 453.3% in the third quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 9,418 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,212,000 after buying an additional 7,716 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,338,169,000 after acquiring an additional 528,769 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 114.7% in the third quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,124 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares during the period. Jain Global LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 97.8% in the third quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 169,305 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $57,733,000 after acquiring an additional 83,692 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 155.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 104,773 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $35,273,000 after acquiring an additional 63,781 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company Profile

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.