Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,247 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $7,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at $283,114,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 74.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $517,028,000 after acquiring an additional 502,060 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 10.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,975,754,000 after purchasing an additional 410,736 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman in the third quarter valued at approximately $165,786,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 29.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,605,679 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $706,804,000 after purchasing an additional 362,515 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total value of $430,103.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,863,180.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total transaction of $430,103.35. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,137 shares in the company, valued at $1,863,180.69. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 1,273 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total transaction of $573,321.01. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,231,761.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,149 shares of company stock worth $1,421,147 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet lowered Northrop Grumman from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $509.38.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE:NOC opened at $485.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1-year low of $414.56 and a 1-year high of $496.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $464.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $465.89.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.38% and a return on equity of 24.09%. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.7 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $1.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $7.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.31%.

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.