General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Short Interest Up 5.7% in December

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,500,000 shares, a growth of 5.7% from the November 30th total of 3,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GD. Wolfe Research downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $322.00 to $295.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 67.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 3,448 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,533,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,074 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $11,204,000 after buying an additional 3,363 shares in the last quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 10,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after buying an additional 2,551 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in General Dynamics by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 297,577 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $89,928,000 after buying an additional 44,387 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD opened at $261.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.80. General Dynamics has a one year low of $247.36 and a one year high of $316.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $281.16 and a 200 day moving average of $290.63.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

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.