Barclays Increases General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Price Target to $325.00

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its price target increased by Barclays from $310.00 to $325.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on General Dynamics from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued an outperform rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $312.17.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $292.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $80.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $292.16 and a 200-day moving average of $283.58. General Dynamics has a one year low of $214.53 and a one year high of $302.75.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.70 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 46.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP William A. Moss sold 21,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.85, for a total value of $6,206,592.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 16,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,901,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other General Dynamics news, VP William A. Moss sold 21,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.85, for a total transaction of $6,206,592.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 16,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,901,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 6,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total value of $1,784,225.28. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 76,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,605,624.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,499 shares of company stock valued at $15,554,941. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,782,612 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 115,063 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,081,488,000 after acquiring an additional 147,800 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $728,284,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,757 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $592,764,000 after acquiring an additional 24,395 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 1.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,927,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262 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.