Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Shares Up 2.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) shot up 2.6% during trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $600.00 to $605.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Northrop Grumman traded as high as $566.48 and last traded at $565.9430. 790,249 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 15% from the average daily volume of 926,861 shares. The stock had previously closed at $551.44.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on NOC. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $617.00 to $667.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $694.00 to $698.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $556.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $419.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $642.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 95 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total value of $52,015.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,405,299.29. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.2% in the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 839 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 618 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 1,796 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $80.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of -0.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $521.15 and its 200 day moving average is $546.89.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.18 by $0.71. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The business had revenue of $11.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.17%.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers, with the U.S. government representing its primary customer base. The company operates across aerospace, defense, space, cybersecurity and advanced technology markets.

Its products and services include military aircraft and autonomous systems, space systems and satellites, missile defense technologies, command-and-control systems, cyber solutions, sensors, communications networks and other mission-critical systems.