General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $314.88.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $322.00 to $295.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $309.00 to $306.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GD. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 17.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 297,577 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $89,928,000 after buying an additional 44,387 shares during the last quarter. FFG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FFG Partners LLC now owns 19,875 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,006,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 12.4% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 56,384 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $17,039,000 after purchasing an additional 6,231 shares during the period. American Trust raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 43.1% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 2,766 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 605.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 79,568 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $24,045,000 after purchasing an additional 68,290 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.3 %

GD opened at $265.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $286.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.01. The company has a market capitalization of $73.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.60. General Dynamics has a 52 week low of $247.36 and a 52 week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.04 earnings per share. General Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.