London Co. of Virginia Has $198.63 Million Holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

London Co. of Virginia cut its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 423,255 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 26,456 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia owned about 0.29% of Northrop Grumman worth $198,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NOC. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 291.7% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 94 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total value of $213,788.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares in the company, valued at $112,883.75. This represents a 65.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,243,053.80. This trade represents a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock worth $2,127,632 over the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $424.00 to $521.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $557.00 to $540.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $525.00 price target on Northrop Grumman and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $545.31.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $482.80 on Monday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $498.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $486.87. The company has a market capitalization of $69.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The aerospace company reported $6.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.27). Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $9.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.07 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.

Northrop Grumman Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense technology company in the United States, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and internationally. The company’s Aeronautics Systems segment designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, and sustains aircraft systems. This segment also offers unmanned autonomous aircraft systems, including high-altitude long-endurance strategic ISR systems and vertical take-off and landing tactical ISR systems; and strategic long-range strike aircraft, tactical fighter and air dominance aircraft, and airborne battle management and command and control systems.