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

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) had its price objective raised by UBS Group from $593.00 to $605.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Northrop Grumman from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $532.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Northrop Grumman from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $477.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $517.54.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $477.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Northrop Grumman has a 1 year low of $414.56 and a 1 year high of $496.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $441.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $455.30. The company has a market cap of $69.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.33.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.93 by $0.43. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The business had revenue of $10.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman will post 25.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 57.62%.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total transaction of $663,330.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 960.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 53 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 241.2% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 58 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.