Osaic Holdings Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Osaic Holdings Inc. decreased its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 40.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,248 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 27,780 shares during the quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $19,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 1,402.9% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 12,925 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,186,000 after purchasing an additional 12,065 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the first quarter valued at about $870,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $778,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 7,574.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 123,637 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $57,879,000 after buying an additional 122,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at about $264,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on NOC. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 21st. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $510.36.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Northrop Grumman stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Monday, reaching $438.10. The company had a trading volume of 790,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 966,320. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $443.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $455.85. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $414.56 and a 52 week high of $496.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.33.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.09% and a net margin of 5.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is 57.62%.

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.