Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 85 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,633 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 42.9% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 117,161 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $61,877,000 after buying an additional 3,666 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 111.4% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 9,419 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,974,000 after acquiring an additional 4,964 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 26.3% in the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 6.0% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,433 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $10,262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 5.6 %

NYSE:NOC opened at $486.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $70.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $479.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $492.44. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week high of $555.57.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Argus raised Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $545.00 to $547.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total transaction of $82,383.36. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $304,217.72. This represents a 21.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,505 shares of company stock worth $2,126,405. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.