First Heartland Consultants Inc. Purchases New Shares in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)

First Heartland Consultants Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 766 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the first quarter valued at $439,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.8% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 18,357 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $9,399,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 8.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 62,363 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $31,931,000 after buying an additional 4,946 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 6.1% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 21,604 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $11,061,000 after buying an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Finally, Principle Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 5.5% during the first quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,004 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE:NOC opened at $569.52 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $501.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $490.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $81.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 0.15. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a twelve month low of $426.24 and a twelve month high of $576.86.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The aerospace company reported $7.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.84 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.15 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 25.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $2.31 dividend. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.06. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.06%.

Insider Activity

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 729 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.77, for a total transaction of $368,706.33. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 7,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,819,575.04. The trade was a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Fleming sold 3,500 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.77, for a total transaction of $1,770,195.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,827 shares in the company, valued at $924,041.79. This trade represents a 65.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,569 shares of company stock valued at $8,323,150 over the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on NOC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $583.00 to $571.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $547.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $569.33.

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.