Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,406 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sapient Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 1,006 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 900 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $511.86 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $478.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $492.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NOC. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $557.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $545.00 to $547.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total transaction of $82,383.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $304,217.72. The trade was a 21.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.