Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires 54,059 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 63.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 138,990 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,059 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $66,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,623,128,000 after purchasing an additional 621,636 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,634,043 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,218,132,000 after purchasing an additional 211,459 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,688,511 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,765,543,000 after purchasing an additional 23,398 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,260,599 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $590,137,000 after purchasing an additional 16,275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One investment 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.com, Northrop Grumman presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $515.07.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NOC stock opened at $480.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $71.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $441.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.11. Northrop Grumman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $414.56 and a fifty-two week high of $496.89.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.93 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $10.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.44% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.34 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.1 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

Northrop Grumman 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.