General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Stock Rating Lowered by Vertical Research

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) was downgraded by investment analysts at Vertical Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $290.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $352.00. Vertical Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.11% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on GD. Barclays increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $312.76.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $263.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.32. General Dynamics has a 52-week low of $247.36 and a 52-week high of $316.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $280.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.31. The firm has a market cap of $72.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $11.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GD. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 241.7% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 385.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently 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.