Balboa Wealth Partners Has $249,000 Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Balboa Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 533 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NOC. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.2% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 1,782 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 524 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 844 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 727 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 493 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. TheStreet downgraded Northrop Grumman from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $514.33.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC traded down $2.63 during trading on Thursday, hitting $472.06. 227,244 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,523. The company has a market cap of $69.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $468.46 and a 200 day moving average of $465.13. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52-week low of $414.56 and a 52-week high of $496.89. 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 (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.83 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.38% and a return on equity of 24.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.7 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.