Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,677,781 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,807 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.76% of Northrop Grumman worth $5,949,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NOC. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $557.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $545.00 to $547.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.88.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $492.25 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $475.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $493.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The stock has a market cap of $71.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. Equities research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total value of $213,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,883.75. This represents a 65.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.