AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 300,640 Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

AQR Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 33.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 598,474 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 300,640 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.42% of Northrop Grumman worth $295,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 176.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,970 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 641 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 90.7% during the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 10,252 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,249,000 after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 12.6% in the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 10,705 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 116.7% in the first quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 1,712 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NOC opened at $569.50 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 1-year low of $426.24 and a 1-year high of $640.90. The company has a market cap of $81.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $580.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $558.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.43 by $1.24. The firm had revenue of $10.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.49% and a net margin of 9.82%.The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.00 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.650-26.050 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $2.31 per share. This represents a $9.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 33.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 97 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $564.08, for a total value of $54,715.76. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,281 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,414,826.48. This represents a 2.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $688.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $650.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $630.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $700.00 target price on Northrop Grumman and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.88.

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.