Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Price Target Raised to $605.00

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $600.00 to $605.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

NOC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $675.00 price target on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $556.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $419.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $643.74.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $551.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.23. Northrop Grumman has a 52-week low of $470.06 and a 52-week high of $774.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $521.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $592.42. The firm has a market cap of $78.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of -0.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.18 by $0.71. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $11.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman will post 29.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 95 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total transaction of $52,015.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,405,299.29. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,914,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,169,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,707,203,000 after buying an additional 168,267 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,308,000. Sage Capital Advisors llc purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,773,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,298,141,000. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers, with the U.S. government representing its primary customer base. The company operates across aerospace, defense, space, cybersecurity and advanced technology markets.

Its products and services include military aircraft and autonomous systems, space systems and satellites, missile defense technologies, command-and-control systems, cyber solutions, sensors, communications networks and other mission-critical systems.