Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Raised to “Overweight” at Alembic Global Advisors

Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $532.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock.

NOC has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered Northrop Grumman from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet downgraded Northrop Grumman from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $540.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Northrop Grumman from $505.00 to $475.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $450.00 price objective (down from $515.00) on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $497.23.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 2.9 %

NOC opened at $488.22 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $72.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.22, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman has a 52 week low of $414.56 and a 52 week high of $496.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $462.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $465.71.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.80 by $0.47. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 23.07% and a net margin of 5.23%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 24.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $1.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $7.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.49%.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In related news, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 711 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.22, for a total transaction of $322,239.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $917,317.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total transaction of $95,482.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,784.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 711 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.22, for a total value of $322,239.42. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $917,317.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,149 shares of company stock worth $1,421,147 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northrop Grumman

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NOC. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter worth $283,114,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 74.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $517,028,000 after buying an additional 502,060 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 10.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,975,754,000 after buying an additional 410,736 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman during the third quarter valued at $165,786,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 29.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,605,679 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $706,804,000 after buying an additional 362,515 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

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.