California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 6,444 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC – Get Rating) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 254,832 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 6,444 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of Northrop Grumman worth $119,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NOC. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,366,015 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,756,624,000 after buying an additional 122,593 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,131,490 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,705,682,000 after buying an additional 100,116 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.5% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,562,706 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,140,714,000 after buying an additional 339,889 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 65.9% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,142,005 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,007,854,000 after purchasing an additional 851,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,409,862 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $663,087,000 after purchasing an additional 29,441 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NOC stock opened at $448.90 on Thursday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $416.23 and a 1 year high of $556.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $463.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $495.04. The company has a market cap of $68.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The aerospace company reported $7.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.57 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 28.29% and a net margin of 13.38%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 21.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 27th were paid a $1.73 dividend. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 24th. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cowen lowered Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $478.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $465.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Wolfe Research cut Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Northrop Grumman from $626.00 to $601.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Northrop Grumman in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $508.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 1,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.81, for a total transaction of $551,080.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,280,395.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 1,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.81, for a total transaction of $551,080.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,280,395.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David T. Perry sold 3,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.65, for a total transaction of $1,878,130.35. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,717 shares in the company, valued at $4,093,939.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,534 shares of company stock valued at $4,934,622 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Northrop Grumman Corp. engages in the provision of advanced aircraft systems. It operates through the following segments: Aeronautics Systems, Defense Systems, Mission Systems, and Space Systems. The Aeronautics Systems segment is involved in the design, development, production, integration, sustainment, and modernization of advanced aircraft systems for the U.S.