General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Downgraded to Neutral Rating by BTIG Research

BTIG Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

GD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Vertical Research lowered General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased 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. Baird R W downgraded General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE GD opened at $246.14 on Thursday. General Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $242.86 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $263.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $67.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. On average, analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.64%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GD. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 40,389.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,379,472 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $416,876,000 after buying an additional 1,376,065 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% 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.