General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Price Target Lowered to $300.00 at Susquehanna

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at Susquehanna from $315.00 to $300.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “positive” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Susquehanna’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.76% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $279.00 to $276.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W lowered General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.65.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE GD traded up $3.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $254.75. 205,676 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,656,196. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $268.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.23. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $247.01 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced 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 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 13.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 purchase 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 Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GD. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in General Dynamics by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,366,124,000 after purchasing an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,674,998,000 after buying an additional 638,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,493,030,000 after buying an additional 24,464 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.