General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Receives $358.50 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $358.50.

Several brokerages have commented on GD. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. BNP Paribas raised shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $385.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $345.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.41. General Dynamics has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $363.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $341.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.04.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $12.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.49 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 18.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.35 EPS. General Dynamics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.300-15.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 38.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Paddock sold 20,360 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.92, for a total value of $6,818,971.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 36,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,272,808.48. This trade represents a 35.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 118.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $567,372,000 after buying an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after acquiring an additional 863,392 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 3,306.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 871,052 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $297,029,000 after acquiring an additional 845,482 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,439,720 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,003,444,000 after acquiring an additional 691,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,265,349,000 after purchasing an additional 677,665 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company Profile

General Dynamics is a major American aerospace and defense contractor that designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of products and services for government and commercial customers worldwide. Headquartered in the United States (Reston, Virginia), the company supplies platforms and systems used by armed forces, civil authorities and private operators across multiple domains including air, land, sea and cyber.

Its principal activities span several operating businesses: a business aviation unit that develops and supports Gulfstream business jets; land systems that produce armored combat vehicles and related logistics and sustainment services; marine systems that design and construct submarines and surface ships for navies; and mission systems and information technology operations that provide command-and-control, communications, cybersecurity and systems-integration services.