General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with one sell rating, eleven hold ratings, ten buy ratings, and one strong buy rating among the twenty-three brokerages covering the company.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, set to be paid on November 14th, representing an annualized dividend of $6.00 with a dividend yield of 1.8%.
• Recent insider sales included EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland selling 33,740 shares for over $10.6 million, indicating a significant decrease in ownership stakes among executives.

Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-three brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $327.4444.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 price target on General Dynamics and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 price target on General Dynamics and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $328.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 33,740 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.20, for a total value of $10,634,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 45,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,244,518.40. The trade was a 42.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 8,150 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.18, for a total value of $2,617,617.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,328,685.24. This represents a 26.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 275,020 shares of company stock valued at $86,414,503. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Guys Formula LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at about $1,692,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in General Dynamics by 11.5% during the first quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 16,522 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its position in General Dynamics by 1.5% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 63,228 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $16,741,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 89.0% during the first quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,815 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,268 shares during the period. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its position in General Dynamics by 18.1% during the first quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 31,620 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $8,619,000 after acquiring an additional 4,836 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

General Dynamics Stock Up 1.0%

GD opened at $340.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $327.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.47. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $239.20 and a 12 month high of $347.37.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

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 issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. 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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