Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,866 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $3,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 176.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,970 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth $232,000. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 813 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 677 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $525.00 price objective on Northrop Grumman and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Argus upgraded Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $583.00 to $571.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $580.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $545.31.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $517.22 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $418.60 and a fifty-two week high of $555.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $490.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $482.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $74.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.14.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The aerospace company reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by ($0.27). Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $9.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.07 billion. On average, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $2.31 per share. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.06. This represents a $9.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 36.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.77, for a total transaction of $3,793,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 201,602 shares in the company, valued at $101,964,243.54. The trade was a 3.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Roshan S. Roeder sold 991 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $490.00, for a total value of $485,590.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $156,310. This represents a 75.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,340 shares of company stock worth $6,183,378 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.