Blair William & Co. IL Reduces Holdings in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,549 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 856 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $9,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 200.0% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 48 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $662.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 15th. BTIG Research upped their target price on Northrop Grumman from $680.00 to $815.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $630.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $715.00 to $781.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $693.60.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $684.52, for a total transaction of $65,029.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,877,037.56. This represents a 2.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $732.98, for a total transaction of $107,748.06. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,431 shares of company stock valued at $21,969,404. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $747.10 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $678.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $615.73. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $450.13 and a fifty-two week high of $774.00. The firm has a market cap of $106.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $11.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.57% and a net margin of 9.97%.Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.39 EPS. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $2.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.72%.

Northrop Grumman Profile

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.