General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $335.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $305.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.79% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on GD. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.20.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.2 %

General Dynamics stock opened at $284.41 on Monday. General Dynamics has a fifty-two week low of $202.35 and a fifty-two week high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $280.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.05. The company has a market capitalization of $78.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. General Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.64 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in General Dynamics by 1,406.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,696 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in General Dynamics by 139.1% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 19,771 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,704,000 after purchasing an additional 11,501 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in General Dynamics by 2.2% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 156,141 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $34,503,000 after purchasing an additional 3,367 shares during the last quarter. Toews Corp ADV acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the third quarter worth approximately $773,000. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its position in General Dynamics by 9.0% during the third quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,825 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 234 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 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.