JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Price Target to $298.00

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $280.00 to $298.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 4.78% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.63.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $284.41 on Thursday. 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 current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $280.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $261.71.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The company 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 business earned $2.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,955,023,000 after buying an additional 133,061 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 12.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,615,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,276 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,081,488,000 after purchasing an additional 147,800 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $728,284,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 13.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,293,269 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $506,744,000 after purchasing an additional 275,947 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.