General Dynamics (GD) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) is expected to release its earnings data before the market opens on Wednesday, January 29th. Analysts expect General Dynamics to post earnings of $4.29 per share and revenue of $13,048,364.97 billion for the quarter. Persons interested in listening to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of GD opened at $269.64 on Tuesday. General Dynamics has a 1-year low of $257.26 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $269.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $287.74. The stock has a market cap of $74.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Baird R W cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.88.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company 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.