General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The firm had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock traded down $1.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $283.42. 262,827 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,101,837. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $280.56 and a 200 day moving average of $261.39. General Dynamics has a 1-year low of $202.35 and a 1-year high of $296.50. The company has a market capitalization of $77.76 billion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.33%.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays increased their price target on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.63.

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.