Blair William & Co. IL Cuts Holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,105 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,196 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $8,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Sapient Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 1,006 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 900 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $933,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays cut their target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $545.06.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total value of $82,383.36. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 709 shares in the company, valued at $304,217.72. The trade was a 21.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $511.86 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The firm has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $478.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $492.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

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 the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. Analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.