General Dynamics Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.42 (NYSE:GD)

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th will be paid a dividend of 1.42 per share by the aerospace company on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%.

General Dynamics has raised its dividend by an average of 6.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 33 years. General Dynamics has a payout ratio of 34.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect General Dynamics to earn $16.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.0%.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock traded up $1.79 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $287.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 890,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,072,471. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $214.53 and a 12 month high of $302.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $291.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $284.55. The company has a market capitalization of $78.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.60.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 16.74%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.70 EPS. Analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 14.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Argus upped their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $271.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. 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 $305.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, VP William A. Moss sold 21,050 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.85, for a total transaction of $6,206,592.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 16,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,901,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 6,016 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.58, for a total value of $1,784,225.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 76,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,605,624.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP William A. Moss sold 21,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.85, for a total transaction of $6,206,592.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 16,624 shares in the company, valued at $4,901,586.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,499 shares of company stock valued at $15,554,941 over the last ninety days. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.