Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Sells 51 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC cut its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 4,719 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,185,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Renasant Bank boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 729 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter worth $2,741,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 733.3% during the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.88.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares in the company, valued at $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total transaction of $213,788.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 245 shares in the company, valued at $112,883.75. This represents a 65.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,505 shares of company stock worth $2,126,405 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NOC stock opened at $486.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $471.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $494.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31.

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

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.