Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Lowered to “Neutral” at Alembic Global Advisors

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) was downgraded by equities researchers at Alembic Global Advisors from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $560.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock. Alembic Global Advisors’ price target indicates a potential upside of 9.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on NOC. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $474.00 to $575.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $523.20.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NYSE:NOC opened at $512.05 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $462.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $461.19. The firm has a market cap of $75.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.32. Northrop Grumman has a one year low of $414.56 and a one year high of $512.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.93 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $10.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.44% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.34 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman will post 25.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,225,917.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $695,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,317,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NOC. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,623,128,000 after buying an additional 621,636 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 1,915.9% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 438,521 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $191,173,000 after acquiring an additional 416,768 shares during the last quarter. Focused Investors Fund L P purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the first quarter worth approximately $108,369,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,634,043 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,218,132,000 after acquiring an additional 211,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at $97,866,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.