General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Downgraded by William Blair to “Market Perform”

William Blair cut shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $283.00 target price (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Baird R W lowered General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $243.02 on Friday. General Dynamics has a twelve month low of $239.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $65.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $259.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $282.54.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GD. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 40,389.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,379,472 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $416,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,065 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $279,582,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $197,238,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,265,813,000 after acquiring an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company Profile

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.