General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has a $345.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on GD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $305.56.

General Dynamics Price Performance

GD opened at $285.84 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.87. General Dynamics has a 1 year low of $211.94 and a 1 year high of $302.75. The firm has a market cap of $78.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.60.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that General Dynamics will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at $218,773,956.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kimberly A. Kuryea sold 13,344 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.16, for a total value of $3,978,647.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 79,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,630,670.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,486 shares of company stock worth $34,391,642. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GD. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $728,284,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 12.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,276 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 10,763.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 923,593 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $239,829,000 after purchasing an additional 915,091 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at about $179,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 3,645.4% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 558,586 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $145,048,000 after purchasing an additional 543,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

About General Dynamics

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.