Waverly Advisors LLC Acquires 617 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 101.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,228 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter worth about $252,000. Victrix Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,063,000. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 52,895 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $24,823,000 after acquiring an additional 3,642 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Finally, WBI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $572,000. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on NOC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $424.00 to $521.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $557.00 to $540.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $545.31.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $471.24 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The firm has a market cap of $67.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.15. 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 50 day simple moving average of $495.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $484.29.

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

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $2.31 dividend. This represents a $9.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,883.75. The trade was 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 4,313 shares of company stock worth $2,045,249. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.