Analysts Set General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Price Target at $327.44

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $327.4444.

GD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $293.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th.

General Dynamics Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE:GD opened at $350.22 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $329.49 and a 200 day moving average of $302.27. General Dynamics has a 52 week low of $239.20 and a 52 week high of $360.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.47.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.27%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 129,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.57, for a total value of $40,478,751.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $241,325,666.99. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.18, for a total transaction of $2,617,617.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,818 shares in the company, valued at $7,328,685.24. This represents a 26.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 193,110 shares of company stock worth $60,778,364. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GD. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the 1st quarter valued at about $272,464,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 845,482 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,748,380 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $749,252,000 after acquiring an additional 709,782 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 120.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,261,525 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $343,866,000 after acquiring an additional 690,349 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 142.5% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 438,311 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $127,838,000 after acquiring an additional 257,534 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.