Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Sold by Foster & Motley Inc.

Foster & Motley Inc. lessened its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,102 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NOC. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 281.5% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 103 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 2,757 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 134.1% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 288 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,275 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,525,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 173.6% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 6,046 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,894,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC stock opened at $523.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $523.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $484.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.22 billion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.05%.

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.