Wall Street Zen Upgrades General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded General Dynamics from “buy” to “strong-buy”, adding to a broader wave of bullish analyst sentiment on the stock.
• The company also reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.10 versus estimates of $3.67 and revenue of $13.48 billion, up 10.3% year over year.
• General Dynamics shares opened at $359.92, near their 52-week high, while analysts currently assign the stock an average rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $388.40.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on GD. UBS Group raised General Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson cut their target price on General Dynamics from $384.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $388.40.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

NYSE:GD opened at $359.92 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $275.49 and a 1 year high of $369.70. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $340.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $346.59. The company has a market cap of $97.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.34.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.66 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GD. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 453.3% during the 3rd quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 9,418 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $3,212,000 after purchasing an additional 7,716 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $8,338,169,000 after purchasing an additional 528,769 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 114.7% during the 3rd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,124 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,088,000 after purchasing an additional 3,271 shares during the last quarter. Jain Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 169,305 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $57,733,000 after purchasing an additional 83,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 155.6% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 104,773 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $35,273,000 after purchasing an additional 63,781 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

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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