Northrop Grumman Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.06 (NYSE:NOC)

Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 2.06 per share by the aerospace company on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd.

Northrop Grumman has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Northrop Grumman has a payout ratio of 29.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Northrop Grumman to earn $27.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.6%.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC stock opened at $489.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $71.34 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $517.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $487.33. Northrop Grumman has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 26.57%. The company had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.18 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NOC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Alembic Global Advisors cut Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $550.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $286,183.41. This trade represents a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,255 shares of company stock valued at $667,727 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.