General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at William Blair

William Blair lowered shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports.

GD has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Dynamics from $279.00 to $276.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Stock Down 1.3 %

GD opened at $243.02 on Friday. General Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $239.87 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $259.68 and a 200-day moving average of $282.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $65.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.64%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,366,124,000 after purchasing an additional 189,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,774,381,000 after buying an additional 463,497 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

About General Dynamics

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.