Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Given New $475.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $450.00 to $475.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 1.04% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. TheStreet downgraded Northrop Grumman from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $503.00.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC traded down $8.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $479.97. The stock had a trading volume of 431,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 995,070. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Northrop Grumman has a 1-year low of $414.56 and a 1-year high of $496.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $462.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $465.71.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 23.07% and a net margin of 5.23%. The firm had revenue of $10.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 24.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 210 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total transaction of $95,482.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,421,784.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total transaction of $95,482.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,127 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,784.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 1,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total transaction of $573,321.01. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,231,761.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,149 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,147. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NOC. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at about $283,114,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 74.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $517,028,000 after buying an additional 502,060 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 10.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,975,754,000 after buying an additional 410,736 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the third quarter valued at about $165,786,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 29.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,605,679 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $706,804,000 after buying an additional 362,515 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Northrop Grumman

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.