Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Raises Stock Holdings in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 1,310.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,428 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,127 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. West Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,243 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 278 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 1,375 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NOC. BTIG Research upped their target price on Northrop Grumman from $680.00 to $815.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $630.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. Argus set a $785.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $623.00 price target (down from $688.00) on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $765.00 price target on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $693.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 2,189 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $719.61, for a total value of $1,575,226.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,661.11. The trade was a 93.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 147 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $732.98, for a total transaction of $107,748.06. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,850,774.50. The trade was a 5.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 32,431 shares of company stock worth $21,969,404 in the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $725.81 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $657.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $608.68. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $450.13 and a fifty-two week high of $745.55. The company has a market capitalization of $103.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The aerospace company reported $7.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.97 by $0.26. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.57% and a net margin of 9.97%.The firm had revenue of $11.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. Analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $2.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.72%.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.