Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Sold by Foster & Motley Inc.

Foster & Motley Inc. cut its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,102 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 5.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,623,128,000 after purchasing an additional 621,636 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,634,043 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,218,132,000 after purchasing an additional 211,459 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,688,511 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,765,543,000 after purchasing an additional 23,398 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 16.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,087,913 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,276,000 after purchasing an additional 150,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 683,427 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $297,937,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NOC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $474.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NOC stock opened at $523.14 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $523.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $484.30. The firm has a market cap of $76.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.18 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 51.05%.

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.