General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.14 EPS

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14), Zacks reports. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 7.90%.

General Dynamics Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE GD traded down $8.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $253.66. The company had a trading volume of 833,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,580,725. The company has a market capitalization of $69.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. General Dynamics has a one year low of $247.01 and a one year high of $316.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.48.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GD has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Baird R W lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $354.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 target price (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $303.28.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.52% 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.