Kathy Warden Sells 7,000 Shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Stock

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) CEO Kathy Warden sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $4,200,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 194,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,761,200. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 5.7%

Shares of NYSE:NOC traded down $34.66 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $575.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,643,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,002,711. The firm has a market cap of $82.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $569.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $570.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a twelve month low of $426.24 and a twelve month high of $640.90.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.43 by $1.24. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 25.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.650-26.050 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $2.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 33.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NOC. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $654.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $688.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $651.18.

Institutional Trading of Northrop Grumman

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 176.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,970 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 641 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 3.6% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,036 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,067,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 3.8% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,459 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,355,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 1st quarter valued at about $966,000. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

More Northrop Grumman News

Here are the key news stories impacting Northrop Grumman this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks analyst blog notes recent U.S. geopolitical action could benefit defense contractors, highlighting the sector as a beneficiary of shifting policy and potential new orders — a tailwind for NOC’s backlog and revenue outlook. Zacks Analyst Blog
• Positive Sentiment: Technical/momentum signals have strengthened — NOC’s relative strength rating rose to 75, which can attract momentum and ETF/quant flows. MSN: Relative Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Articles highlighting strong multi-year returns to shareholders reinforce longer-term investor confidence in NOC’s stock as a defense-play. These narratives can support buying interest after pullbacks. Benzinga: 5-year returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research issued a set of mixed, small EPS estimate tweaks across 2026–2027: modest downgrades for several quarters offset by slight raises for others, leaving FY consensus near $28.05 — minor near-term guidance noise but not a material change to the full-year view. (Zacks research notes)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several feature/analysis pieces question valuation after strong gains (“Is it too late?”) — these are discussion pieces that may influence sentiment but are not fresh fundamental drivers. Yahoo Finance: Is it too late?
• Negative Sentiment: President Trump said he “will not permit” defense companies to pay dividends or execute stock buybacks until they resolve production problems, and criticized executive pay — comments raise political/regulatory risk for capital returns and investor-friendly policies at defense contractors, pressuring NOC’s shareholder-return thesis. CNBC: Trump on dividends/buybacks Reuters: Trump on production and buybacks

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.