McCollum Christoferson Group LLC Sells 7,204 Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

McCollum Christoferson Group LLC cut its position in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 17.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,251 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 7,204 shares during the quarter. Northrop Grumman makes up approximately 2.4% of McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $16,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,169,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,707,203,000 after purchasing an additional 168,267 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at $6,001,616,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,298,141,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 960,690 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $655,373,000 after purchasing an additional 5,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 11.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $400,557,000 after acquiring an additional 58,690 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 95 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total value of $52,015.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,405,299.29. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on NOC. Morgan Stanley set a $745.00 price target on Northrop Grumman and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $533.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $640.00 to $525.00 in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on Northrop Grumman in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $644.70.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC traded down $1.75 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $483.25. 210,193 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 911,775. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $530.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $557.66. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12 month low of $470.06 and a 12 month high of $774.00. The firm has a market cap of $68.64 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of -0.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 10.48%. The company had revenue of $10.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were given a dividend of $2.47 per share. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.39%.

Northrop Grumman Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers, with the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies representing its primary markets. Its work spans advanced aircraft, autonomous systems, space systems, missile defense, command and control, cybersecurity, and other mission-critical technologies.

The company’s offerings include strategic and tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, aircraft systems, satellites, spacecraft, launch vehicles, missile-warning and missile-defense systems, secure communications, and cyber and information systems.