General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on GD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of General Dynamics from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $296.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $293.43.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $284.41 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $280.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $262.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics has a 52 week low of $202.35 and a 52 week high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.44.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Dynamics will post 14.57 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 46.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during 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.