Robert W. Baird Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $283.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $345.00. Robert W. Baird’s target price suggests a potential upside of 6.43% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen raised shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.53.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of GD stock opened at $265.89 on Tuesday. General Dynamics has a 1 year low of $247.36 and a 1 year high of $316.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $275.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.61. 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 (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 7.90%. The company 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 company earned $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 expect that General Dynamics will post 13.84 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 797 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,643 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,601,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. grew its position in General Dynamics by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 112,503 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,643,000 after acquiring an additional 2,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 762 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 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.