Great Lakes Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 68.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,216 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 4,891 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 7.0% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,914,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,835,097,000 after acquiring an additional 209,135 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $63,822,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,793,478,000 after acquiring an additional 17,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,497 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NOC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $635.00 to $600.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $653.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $661.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total value of $52,015.35. Following the sale, the director owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,405,299.29. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $552.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $541.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $610.05. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12 month low of $479.02 and a 12 month high of $774.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of -0.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $10.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.48% and a return on equity of 24.25%. Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.15 EPS. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.39%.

Northrop Grumman Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.