General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Given New $320.00 Price Target at Citigroup

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $300.00 to $320.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of General Dynamics from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $296.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $285.63.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GD traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $284.98. 689,106 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,107,321. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. General Dynamics has a 52-week low of $202.35 and a 52-week high of $296.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $280.56 and a 200-day moving average of $261.39.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The company had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 14.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the first quarter worth $25,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 411.5% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 133 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.