Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Price Target Raised to $560.00 at Susquehanna

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) had its price target raised by Susquehanna from $540.00 to $560.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a positive rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $532.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $450.00 target price (down from $515.00) on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday. TheStreet cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a b+ rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $503.00.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $480.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $71.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $462.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $465.72. Northrop Grumman has a 52-week low of $414.56 and a 52-week high of $496.89.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.38% and a return on equity of 24.09%. Northrop Grumman’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.50 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 24.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $1.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $7.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 1,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total value of $573,321.01. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,761.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Kathryn G. Simpson sold 1,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total value of $573,321.01. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,761.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total transaction of $95,482.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,127 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,784.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,149 shares of company stock worth $1,421,147 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 10.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,975,754,000 after purchasing an additional 410,736 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,194,298 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,846,289,000 after purchasing an additional 142,036 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 2,271,466 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,063,364,000 after purchasing an additional 80,887 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 29.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,605,679 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $706,804,000 after purchasing an additional 362,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,260,599 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $590,137,000 after purchasing an additional 16,275 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.