Clough Capital Partners L P Sells 8,452 Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Clough Capital Partners L P trimmed its holdings in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 35.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,316 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 8,452 shares during the quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $8,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,835,097,000 after purchasing an additional 209,135 shares in the last quarter. Nkcfo LLC bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the third quarter worth about $2,986,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $63,822,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth about $1,987,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,958 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $90,639,000 after acquiring an additional 2,025 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on NOC shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $806.00 to $745.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Monday. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $815.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $660.00 to $620.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.63.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $549.64 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $580.68 and a 200 day moving average of $630.42. The stock has a market cap of $78.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of -0.12. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12 month low of $481.28 and a 12 month high of $774.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The aerospace company reported $6.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.06 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.75 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 24.72%. Northrop Grumman’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.06 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 27.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $2.47 per share. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.92%.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.