BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $272,000 Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

BLB&B Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 625 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 14.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.4% during the first quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 965 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.1% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Renasant Bank lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.3% during the first quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 743 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,988 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,867,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NOC traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $513.66. The company had a trading volume of 638,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 937,974. The firm has a market cap of $76.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.92, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $464.23 and a 200-day moving average of $461.59. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12 month low of $414.56 and a 12 month high of $517.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.34 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $695,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,317,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,317,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of Northrop Grumman 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 sale, the vice president now owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NOC. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $440.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $523.20.

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.