Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Guggenheim

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) was upgraded by analysts at Guggenheim to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $653.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $615.00 price target on Northrop Grumman in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $745.00 price objective on Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $603.00 to $533.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $659.86.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $530.70 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $542.98 and a 200-day moving average of $587.21. The stock has a market cap of $75.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of -0.11. Northrop Grumman has a 52-week low of $479.02 and a 52-week high of $774.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.82 by $0.86. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.48% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The business had revenue of $10.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.15 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman will post 28.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 95 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total transaction of $52,015.35. Following the sale, the director owned 4,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,405,299.29. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at about $6,001,616,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,434,041 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,958,151,000 after purchasing an additional 970,029 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,793,478,000 after purchasing an additional 17,948 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,125,139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,781,986,000 after purchasing an additional 128,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,298,141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and delivers systems, platforms and technologies for government and commercial customers. Its activities include the design and production of military aircraft, autonomous systems, spacecraft, launch vehicles, missile-defense systems, command-and-control networks, cyber solutions, sensors and other mission-critical technologies.

The company serves the U.S. Department of Defense, other U.S. government agencies and international customers.