General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• General Dynamics Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from 22 analysts, with 1 sell, 12 hold, and 9 buy recommendations.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings show an EPS of $3.74, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.47, along with a revenue of $13.04 billion.
• General Dynamics announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.9%, payable on November 14th to stockholders of record on October 10th.

Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $315.7778.

GD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on General Dynamics from $284.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total transaction of $13,696,600.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,875 shares in the company, valued at $12,452,165. This trade represents a 52.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 5,490 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.81, for a total value of $1,717,326.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,483 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,715,137.23. This represents a 50.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 268,370 shares of company stock worth $78,408,011. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 34,578.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $339,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,011 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $279,582,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in General Dynamics in the first quarter valued at approximately $272,464,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 34.8% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,748,380 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $749,252,000 after acquiring an additional 709,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 120.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,261,525 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $343,866,000 after acquiring an additional 690,349 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE:GD opened at $312.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $294.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $275.16. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $239.20 and a 12 month high of $322.50. The firm has a market cap of $84.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $13.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 8.13%. The business's revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Dynamics's payout ratio is 40.27%.

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.

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