General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.64 EPS.

General Dynamics Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of GD stock traded up $3.86 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $284.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,769,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,113,098. General Dynamics has a 12-month low of $202.35 and a 12-month high of $296.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.68. The firm's 50-day moving average is $280.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $261.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. This is a boost from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of General Dynamics from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $296.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of General Dynamics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company's stock.

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.