Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) Stock Has Average Target Price of $643.74 According to Brokerages

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $643.74.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NOC shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $556.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $617.00 to $667.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $590.00 to $540.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th.

Insider Activity

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 98 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $555.65, for a total transaction of $54,453.70. Following the sale, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Perkins Coie Trust Co purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NOC opened at $550.55 on Wednesday. Northrop Grumman has a 1 year low of $470.06 and a 1 year high of $774.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $520.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $585.88. The firm has a market cap of $78.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of -0.13.

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

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

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

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.