Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Shares Purchased by Factory Mutual Insurance Co.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its position in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 58.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 68,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,950 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $32,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,169,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,707,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,267 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,001,616,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,298,141,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 960,690 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $655,373,000 after buying an additional 5,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 11.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $400,557,000 after buying an additional 58,690 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $745.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $550.00 to $675.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on Northrop Grumman from $785.00 to $655.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Fifteen 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $643.74.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NYSE NOC opened at $550.17 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12-month low of $470.06 and a 12-month high of $774.00. The company has a market capitalization of $78.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of -0.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $520.59 and its 200-day moving average is $590.91.

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

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 31.17%.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 98 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.65, for a total transaction of $54,453.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,074.10. The trade was a 2.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.