Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Bought by IAG Wealth Partners LLC

IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 733.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $117,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 102.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 735,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $388,448,000 after buying an additional 372,500 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter worth $171,580,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter worth $94,370,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,426,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,315,729,000 after buying an additional 141,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter worth $66,171,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total transaction of $213,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares in the company, valued at $112,883.75. This represents a 65.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock worth $2,126,405 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $557.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Truist Financial began coverage on Northrop Grumman in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.88.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $475.74 on Thursday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $68.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $471.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $494.70.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

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.