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

Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 2.06 per share by the aerospace company on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

Northrop Grumman has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% 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 29.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Northrop Grumman to earn $27.79 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 29.7%.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock traded up $4.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $496.64. 293,169 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 861,357. Northrop Grumman has a 12-month low of $418.60 and a 12-month high of $555.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $521.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $486.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,289 shares of company stock worth $685,273. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $550.56.

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.