Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Stock: Vestor Capital LLC Boosts Holdings

Vestor Capital LLC grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 172.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,676 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 3,591 shares during the quarter. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $2,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of NOC. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 59.5% in the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 12,069 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,835,000 after acquiring an additional 4,503 shares in the last quarter. Syntax Research Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter worth $589,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 6.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,671 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,180,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Accuvest Global Advisors purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $450,000. Finally, StoneRidge PMG Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $483,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 98 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $555.65, for a total value of $54,453.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,074.10. This represents a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $556.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $550.00 to $675.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $615.00 price target on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Northrop Grumman from $785.00 to $655.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $643.74.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $539.48 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $519.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $588.28. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 52 week low of $470.06 and a 52 week high of $774.00. The stock has a market cap of $76.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of -0.13.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.18 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $11.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.14 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 31.17%.

Northrop Grumman Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers. Its business spans aeronautics, defense, mission technologies and space, including military aircraft, autonomous systems, missile and air-defense capabilities, sensors, communications and satellites.

The company is the prime contractor for the B-21 Raider and is developing the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system. It also supplies technologies and components for other defense programs, as well as launch vehicles, propulsion systems and spacecraft.

Northrop Grumman traces its roots to Northrop Aircraft, founded in 1939, and Grumman, founded in 1930; the two companies combined in 1994.