Patton Fund Management Inc. Acquires 4,578 Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Patton Fund Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 1,090.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,998 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 4,578 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $3,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,835,097,000 after acquiring an additional 209,135 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $63,822,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth $1,987,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,793,478,000 after purchasing an additional 17,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,958 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $90,639,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $742.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $700.53.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NOC opened at $499.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of -0.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $556.35 and a 200 day moving average of $628.26. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $489.26 and a fifty-two week high of $774.00.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The aerospace company reported $6.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.06 by $0.08. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The business had revenue of $9.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.06 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 27.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $2.47 dividend. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.92%.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.