Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Grows Stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 13.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,257 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,831 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $7,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 39.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,434,041 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,958,151,000 after purchasing an additional 970,029 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 56,920.9% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 421,955 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $240,603,000 after buying an additional 421,215 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 272.8% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 401,664 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $229,033,000 after buying an additional 293,909 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,835,097,000 after buying an additional 209,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1,086.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 192,583 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $109,813,000 after buying an additional 176,352 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NOC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $653.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $620.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $666.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.30.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NOC opened at $571.06 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $534.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $617.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of -0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.17. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 52-week low of $479.02 and a 52-week high of $774.00.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 10.48%.The business had revenue of $10.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $2.47 per share. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total transaction of $52,015.35. Following the sale, the director owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,405,299.29. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.