Prudent Man Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Prudent Man Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 29.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,339 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,139,333 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,631,390,000 after buying an additional 974,633 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 1,425.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,001,198 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $512,624,000 after buying an additional 935,554 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $369,205,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,266,301 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,792,479,000 after buying an additional 588,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 98.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 899,114 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $460,355,000 after buying an additional 446,940 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on NOC. Susquehanna increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $650.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Northrop Grumman to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $688.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $642.73.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NOC opened at $605.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $86.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $594.41 and a 200 day moving average of $540.97. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 52-week low of $426.24 and a 52-week high of $640.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.43 by $1.24. The company had revenue of $10.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.49% and a net margin of 9.82%.Northrop Grumman’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.00 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.650-26.050 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $2.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $9.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.24%.

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.