Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Makes New $523,000 Investment in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,114 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NOC. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC now owns 12,921 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,064,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter worth $113,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,677,781 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,949,556,000 after buying an additional 56,807 shares during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter worth $473,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 261,837 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $122,877,000 after acquiring an additional 18,854 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $511.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $478.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $493.03. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. As a group, research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NOC. Argus raised Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $545.00 to $547.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $544.00 target price for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total transaction of $213,788.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,883.75. This represents a 65.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,243,053.80. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.