Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Takes $40,000 Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 76 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 281.5% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 103 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 2,757 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after buying an additional 1,355 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 134.1% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 288 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.4% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,275 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,525,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 173.6% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 6,046 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,894,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $509.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Alembic Global Advisors cut Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $523.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $76.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $523.63 and its 200-day moving average is $484.30. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The company had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 51.05%.

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.