Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $199,000 Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lowered its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 65.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 424 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 795 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 16,660 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,818,000 after buying an additional 2,770 shares during the period. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 48,367 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $22,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $604,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 212,514 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $112,222,000 after purchasing an additional 5,334 shares during the period. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 1,316.9% during the 4th quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 16,139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,574,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,883.75. This trade represents a 65.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.88.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NOC opened at $492.25 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12-month low of $418.60 and a 12-month high of $555.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $475.18 and its 200 day moving average is $493.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $71.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to purchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman 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.