General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Stock Rating Lowered by Baird R W

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) was downgraded by research analysts at Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price objective (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.53.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $264.92 on Tuesday. General Dynamics has a twelve month low of $247.36 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The firm has a market cap of $72.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $275.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released 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 net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GD. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,292,851,000 after buying an additional 109,618 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in General Dynamics by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,366,124,000 after purchasing an additional 189,904 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,493,030,000 after purchasing an additional 24,464 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.