StockNews.com Upgrades Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on NOC. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. TheStreet downgraded Northrop Grumman from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Northrop Grumman from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $532.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $503.00.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE NOC opened at $480.53 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $462.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $465.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.13. Northrop Grumman has a fifty-two week low of $414.56 and a fifty-two week high of $496.89.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.09% and a net margin of 5.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 24.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $1.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $7.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.22, for a total transaction of $322,239.42. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $917,317.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 711 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.22, for a total transaction of $322,239.42. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $917,317.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total value of $430,103.35. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,863,180.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,149 shares of company stock worth $1,421,147 in the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at about $283,114,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 74.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $517,028,000 after acquiring an additional 502,060 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,975,754,000 after acquiring an additional 410,736 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $165,786,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 29.2% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 362,515 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.