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

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 5th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of 1.42 per share by the aerospace company on Friday, August 9th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th.

General Dynamics has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 33 consecutive years. General Dynamics has a dividend payout ratio of 34.8% 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 Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $284.87 on Thursday. General Dynamics has a 1-year low of $211.94 and a 1-year high of $302.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $78.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $294.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.55.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total transaction of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other General Dynamics news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.00, for a total value of $740,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,589,184. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,486 shares of company stock valued at $34,391,642. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $305.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.56.

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.