General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Receives Neutral Rating from Robert W. Baird

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Robert W. Baird in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $283.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $345.00. Robert W. Baird’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.31% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on GD. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 price target (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.53.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.7 %

General Dynamics stock opened at $263.73 on Tuesday. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $247.36 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The stock has a market cap of $72.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $275.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $288.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 13.84 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 67.6% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,583,000 after acquiring an additional 3,448 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 36.4% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,533,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,074 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,204,000 after buying an additional 3,363 shares during the last quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 10,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after buying an additional 2,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 261,992 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $69,032,000 after buying an additional 107,095 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.