Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Coverage Initiated at Truist Financial

Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $544.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on NOC. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $550.94.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NOC stock opened at $480.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $69.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.76, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman 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 current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $482.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $493.47.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.18 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 51.05%.

Northrop Grumman announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,255 shares of company stock valued at $663,859 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,667 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,168,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 101,282 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $47,531,000 after buying an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,067,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 2,165 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Hampshire Trust lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 5,322 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

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.