Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Upgraded by TD Cowen to Hold

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on NOC. UBS Group raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $593.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays increased their price target 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. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded Northrop Grumman from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $560.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Northrop Grumman from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $527.19.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 0.3 %

NOC opened at $528.70 on Tuesday. Northrop Grumman has a 1-year low of $418.60 and a 1-year high of $555.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $517.12 and a 200-day moving average of $476.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.93 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $10.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 25.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.62%.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares in the company, valued at $2,317,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were 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 owns 6,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,225,917.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,317,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,879 shares of company stock worth $1,410,703 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NOC. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,623,128,000 after buying an additional 621,636 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,688,511 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,765,543,000 after acquiring an additional 23,398 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,087,913 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,276,000 after purchasing an additional 150,367 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 683,427 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $297,937,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.