Balboa Wealth Partners Sells 165 Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Balboa Wealth Partners cut its holdings in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 788 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NOC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,266,301 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,792,479,000 after purchasing an additional 588,520 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 23.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,139,333 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,631,390,000 after purchasing an additional 974,633 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 10.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,241,144 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,147,489,000 after purchasing an additional 210,500 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 12.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,944,186 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $995,443,000 after purchasing an additional 210,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 12.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,115,625 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $571,211,000 after purchasing an additional 119,693 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NOC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $557.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $617.50.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:NOC opened at $601.92 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $86.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $592.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $538.16. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 1 year low of $426.24 and a 1 year high of $640.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The aerospace company reported $7.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.84 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.15 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 9.74%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $2.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.06%.

About Northrop Grumman

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.