General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $370.65 and last traded at $367.8960, with a volume of 76763 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $362.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $387.00 to $377.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.40.

General Dynamics Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $342.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.30, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.34.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.The company had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.63 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,884,695. This represents a 33.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,457,677.75. This trade represents a 48.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 78,190 shares of company stock valued at $27,041,022 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,338,169,000 after acquiring an additional 528,769 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in General Dynamics by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,323,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,812,058,000 after purchasing an additional 294,456 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,065,462 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,039,742,000 after purchasing an additional 195,604 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,307,389 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,786,786,000 after buying an additional 114,647 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,627,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,236,900,000 after buying an additional 187,435 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics is a major American aerospace and defense contractor that designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of products and services for government and commercial customers worldwide. Headquartered in the United States (Reston, Virginia), the company supplies platforms and systems used by armed forces, civil authorities and private operators across multiple domains including air, land, sea and cyber.

Its principal activities span several operating businesses: a business aviation unit that develops and supports Gulfstream business jets; land systems that produce armored combat vehicles and related logistics and sustainment services; marine systems that design and construct submarines and surface ships for navies; and mission systems and information technology operations that provide command-and-control, communications, cybersecurity and systems-integration services.