Ieq Capital LLC Cuts Stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Ieq Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 83.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 709 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 3,481 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $41,914,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,793,478,000 after acquiring an additional 17,948 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,497 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,958 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $90,639,000 after acquiring an additional 2,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,125,139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,781,986,000 after acquiring an additional 128,855 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NOC shares. Morgan Stanley set a $745.00 price objective on Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $666.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $500.00 target price on Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $661.30.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $545.83 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12-month low of $479.02 and a 12-month high of $774.00. The company has a market cap of $77.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of -0.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $542.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.78.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $10.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 10.48%.The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.15 EPS. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.97 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In related news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total value of $52,015.35. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,405,299.29. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.