General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Posts Earnings Results

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE GD traded down $1.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $283.42. 262,827 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,101,837. The company has a market capitalization of $77.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics has a 52-week low of $202.35 and a 52-week high of $296.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $280.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $261.39.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GD. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.63.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

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