Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Sells 3,057 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 165,934 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 3,057 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $77,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,239,434 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,866,133,000 after buying an additional 461,307 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,030,644 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $952,962,000 after buying an additional 450,858 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 337.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 482,112 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $226,250,000 after buying an additional 371,814 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $171,580,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,733,680 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $813,599,000 after buying an additional 343,018 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total transaction of $213,788.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,883.75. This represents a 65.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,632. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $470.46 on Tuesday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $67.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $496.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $485.22.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The aerospace company reported $6.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by ($0.27). Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $9.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.07 billion. Analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NOC. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $583.00 to $571.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $545.31.

Northrop Grumman Profile

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.