Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Declares $2.06 Quarterly Dividend

Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 2.06 per share by the aerospace company on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%.

Northrop Grumman has raised its dividend by an average of 9.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Northrop Grumman has a dividend payout ratio of 28.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Northrop Grumman to earn $29.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.4%.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NOC traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $441.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,074,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 900,016. The stock has a market cap of $63.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.35. 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 has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week high of $555.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $474.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $499.00.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. On average, analysts predict that Northrop Grumman will post 27.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to purchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $544.56.

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.