Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC – Get Free Report) were up 1.7% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $569.00 and last traded at $562.3990. Approximately 1,054,286 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 927,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $552.77.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NOC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $556.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $745.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $533.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $550.00 to $675.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $643.74.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Stock Performance
The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $520.51 and a 200 day moving average of $591.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of -0.11.
Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.18 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $11.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.14 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.67 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is 31.17%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 95 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total transaction of $52,015.35. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,405,299.29. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Northrop Grumman
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 14.9% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,233 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 30.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 132 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 2.2% during the third quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 5,494 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,656,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 15.8% in the third quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,583 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.8% in the third quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,115 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $12,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers, with the U.S. government representing its primary customer base. The company operates across aerospace, defense, space, cybersecurity and advanced technology markets.
Its products and services include military aircraft and autonomous systems, space systems and satellites, missile defense technologies, command-and-control systems, cyber solutions, sensors, communications networks and other mission-critical systems.
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