Covestor Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 32.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 243 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NOC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.8% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,634,043 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,218,132,000 after buying an additional 211,459 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 2,271,466 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,063,364,000 after purchasing an additional 80,887 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,260,599 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $590,137,000 after purchasing an additional 16,275 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 1,156,477 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $541,393,000 after buying an additional 28,934 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 789,096 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $369,407,000 after buying an additional 21,653 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NOC stock traded up $3.53 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $441.63. The stock had a trading volume of 299,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 961,492. The firm has a market cap of $65.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.33. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $442.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $455.61. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $414.56 and a 52 week high of $496.89.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.38% and a return on equity of 24.09%. The company had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 21st. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $510.36.

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.