Royal Bank of Canada Increases General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Price Target to $325.00

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its target price hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $300.00 to $325.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.35% from the company’s previous close.

GD has been the topic of several other reports. 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.62.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock opened at $291.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $80.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics has a 12-month low of $202.35 and a 12-month high of $292.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.86.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Dynamics will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at $25,219,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 728.8% during the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 605 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 287 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at $1,657,000. Finally, Napatree Capital LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $359,000. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.