1,696 Shares in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Bought by StoneX Group Inc.

StoneX Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,696 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $885,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NOC. State Street Corp increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,169,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,707,203,000 after purchasing an additional 168,267 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the second quarter worth $6,001,616,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,298,141,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 960,690 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $655,373,000 after buying an additional 5,811 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 747,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $380,516,000 after buying an additional 16,195 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.8%

NOC opened at $549.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of -0.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12 month low of $470.06 and a 12 month high of $774.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $519.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $587.68.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released 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 firm had revenue of $11.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.14 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 10.37%. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a $2.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 31.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 98 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.65, for a total transaction of $54,453.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,397,074.10. This trade represents a 2.22% decrease in their position. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Northrop Grumman from $590.00 to $540.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $556.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $612.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $643.74.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.