Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Bought by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 22.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,665 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,677,781 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,949,556,000 after acquiring an additional 56,807 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,164,700 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,954,452,000 after acquiring an additional 23,808 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,025,263 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,417,850,000 after buying an additional 21,903 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,807,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,317,402,000 after acquiring an additional 109,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,533,378 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,188,889,000 after purchasing an additional 107,108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.65.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares in the company, valued at $101,243,053.80. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total value of $213,788.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,883.75. This trade represents a 65.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,182 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $535.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $77.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.20. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $483.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $491.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. As a group, analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 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, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.08%.

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.