Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has $521.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $424.00.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on NOC. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $557.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $543.65.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $534.14 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $481.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $491.44. Northrop Grumman has a 52-week low of $418.60 and a 52-week high of $555.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $76.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.20.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. As a group, analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 29.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of Northrop Grumman 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total value of $82,383.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $304,217.72. This represents a 21.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,182 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $604,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.8% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 883 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.4% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 19,726 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the third quarter valued at $1,130,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 21.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,504 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.