Patten Group Inc. Grows Position in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Patten Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 15.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,644 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NOC. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 121.0% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,640 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,400,000 after acquiring an additional 3,635 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 641.0% during the 2nd quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 206.2% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,771 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 795,839 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $407,477,000 after acquiring an additional 125,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 118.2% during the 1st quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NOC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $630.00 to $674.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $547.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $700.00 price target on Northrop Grumman and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $621.67.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $599.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.04. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $426.24 and a fifty-two week high of $640.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $593.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $538.58.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.43 by $1.24. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 9.74%.The business had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.650-26.050 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $2.31 per share. This represents a $9.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.06%.

Northrop Grumman 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.