Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.43 EPS

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.93 by $0.43, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $10.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.44% and a net margin of 5.61%. Northrop Grumman’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.34 earnings per share.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC traded up $9.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $480.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,164,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 785,878. Northrop Grumman has a twelve month low of $414.56 and a twelve month high of $496.89. The stock has a market cap of $71.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $441.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $455.46.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Northrop Grumman from $530.00 to $500.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $593.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $515.07.

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.