General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Short Interest Up 14.5% in October

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,080,000 shares, a growth of 14.5% from the October 15th total of 2,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total transaction of $406,626.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,515.60. The trade was a 26.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 241.7% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new position in General Dynamics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $293.00 to $345.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $333.00 to $352.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.69.

General Dynamics Trading Down 1.5 %

GD opened at $287.99 on Monday. General Dynamics has a twelve month low of $243.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that General Dynamics will post 13.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.