Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Holdings Lifted by Investment Partners LTD.

Investment Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 100.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,196 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,098 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,001,616,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,298,141,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the second quarter worth $376,135,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,039,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at approximately $194,058,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $590.00 to $540.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $419.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $612.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $643.74.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC stock opened at $558.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $520.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $591.78. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $470.06 and a fifty-two week high of $774.00. The stock has a market cap of $79.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of -0.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.18 by $0.71. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $11.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $2.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $52,015.35. Following the sale, the director owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,405,299.29. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Northrop Grumman Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers, with the U.S. government representing its primary customer base. The company operates across aerospace, defense, space, cybersecurity and advanced technology markets.

Its products and services include military aircraft and autonomous systems, space systems and satellites, missile defense technologies, command-and-control systems, cyber solutions, sensors, communications networks and other mission-critical systems.