Quadrature Capital Ltd Has $12.09 Million Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 30.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,812 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $12,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 10.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,975,754,000 after acquiring an additional 410,736 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,194,298 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,846,289,000 after purchasing an additional 142,036 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $1,063,364,000 after buying an additional 80,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 74.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $517,028,000 after buying an additional 502,060 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $514.33.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE NOC opened at $429.78 on Tuesday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $414.56 and a 52 week high of $496.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $460.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $462.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $63.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.35.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.38% and a return on equity of 24.09%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.62%.

Northrop Grumman 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.