Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Director Sells $52,015.35 in Stock

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) Director Mark Welsh III sold 95 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total transaction of $52,015.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,405,299.29. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NOC opened at $568.12 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $534.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $617.32. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 52-week low of $479.02 and a 52-week high of $774.00. The company has a market cap of $80.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of -0.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $10.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.80 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.48% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.15 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $2.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 31.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,914,000 after purchasing an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,835,097,000 after purchasing an additional 209,135 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $63,822,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,793,478,000 after purchasing an additional 17,948 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,497 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on NOC. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $785.00 to $655.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $635.00 to $600.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $500.00 price target on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.30.

About Northrop Grumman

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.