Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Now Covered by Analysts at BTIG Research

BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $565.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on NOC. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $532.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $530.00 to $500.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Northrop Grumman from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $477.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $510.36.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NOC opened at $435.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.49, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Northrop Grumman has a one year low of $414.56 and a one year high of $496.89. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $456.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $459.29.

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

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

Institutional Trading of Northrop Grumman

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $757,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 117.4% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,237 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,154 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 461.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,362 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 6,872 shares during the period. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 5,062 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.