Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Cuts General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Price Target to $377.00

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank cut its price target on General Dynamics to $377 from $387 and kept a "hold" rating, implying roughly an 8.87% upside from the prior close.
• General Dynamics beat Q1 estimates with $4.10 EPS (vs. $3.67) and $13.48B revenue (vs. $12.70B), yet the stock trades near $346.28 while the average analyst target is about $388.20, indicating potential upside to consensus.
• Insiders sold a total of 51,260 shares worth ~$18.13M last quarter (including CEO Phebe Novakovic's sale of 32,918 shares), while institutional investors hold roughly 86% of the company.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by research analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $387.00 to $377.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a "hold" rating on the aerospace company's stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 8.87% from the stock's previous close.

GD has been the topic of several other research reports. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus raised their target price on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $398.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Monday, January 12th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on General Dynamics from $384.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $388.20.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock traded down $0.99 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $346.28. 29,594 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,430,950. General Dynamics has a 1 year low of $267.39 and a 1 year high of $369.70. The company has a market cap of $93.64 billion, a PE ratio of 21.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.34. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $345.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.57. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.66 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 16.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.09, for a total value of $11,655,934.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares in the company, valued at $271,394,759.13. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Mark Rayha sold 4,370 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.79, for a total value of $1,524,212.30. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 7,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,767,997.44. The trade was a 35.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 51,260 shares of company stock worth $18,133,971 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GD. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in General Dynamics by 118.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $567,372,000 after purchasing an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after purchasing an additional 863,392 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $8,265,349,000 after buying an additional 677,665 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 831.1% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $251,405,000 after buying an additional 658,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $199,130,000 after buying an additional 582,765 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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