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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on NOC. TheStreet lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $532.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $503.00.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $480.53 on Friday. Northrop Grumman has a fifty-two week low of $414.56 and a fifty-two week high of $496.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $462.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $465.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $71.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.35.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results 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. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.09% and a net margin of 5.38%. The business had revenue of $10.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.50 EPS. Northrop Grumman’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman will post 24.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total value of $95,482.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,784.36. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total value of $95,482.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,784.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total value of $430,103.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,137 shares in the company, valued at $1,863,180.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,149 shares of company stock worth $1,421,147 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Northrop Grumman

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 410,736 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,194,298 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,846,289,000 after buying an additional 142,036 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 2,271,466 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,063,364,000 after buying an additional 80,887 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 362,515 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,260,599 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $590,137,000 after buying an additional 16,275 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Northrop Grumman

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.