State of Wyoming Grows Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 1,741.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,197 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NOC. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,496 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 936 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 154.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,683 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Finally, IAM Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. IAM Advisory LLC now owns 3,964 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,243,053.80. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total value of $213,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,632 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NOC. Wells Fargo & Company set a $525.00 price objective on Northrop Grumman and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Argus upgraded Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Northrop Grumman from $583.00 to $571.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.31.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC opened at $472.67 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $496.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $485.48. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12-month low of $418.60 and a 12-month high of $555.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.15.

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

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 32.52%.

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.