General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Announces Earnings Results

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The aerospace company reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis.

General Dynamics Price Performance

GD traded up $2.87 during trading on Thursday, reaching $283.98. The stock had a trading volume of 639,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,098,393. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. General Dynamics has a 1-year low of $202.35 and a 1-year high of $296.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $280.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.22.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was 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 owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was 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 owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GD shares. StockNews.com downgraded General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.47.

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.