General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Receives $298.59 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $298.59.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $300.00 target price (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

General Dynamics Stock Down 1.7 %

GD traded down $4.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $241.98. 2,762,958 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,659,087. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company's fifty day moving average price is $261.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $284.09. The company has a market cap of $66.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics has a one year low of $239.87 and a one year high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. As a group, analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after acquiring an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after acquiring an additional 109,618 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $2,366,124,000 after acquiring an additional 189,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,774,381,000 after acquiring an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% 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.