Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,941 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 241.2% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 58 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 245.5% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 76 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 281.5% during the first 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. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 the last quarter, insiders sold 1,490 shares of company stock worth $747,372. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NOC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. TD Cowen raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $535.00.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $523.68 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $522.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.30. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1-year low of $418.60 and a 1-year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.34.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.18 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 53.79%.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.