Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Position Boosted by Claro Advisors LLC

Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 24.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,467 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Northrop Grumman by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,623,128,000 after buying an additional 621,636 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,688,511 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,765,543,000 after acquiring an additional 23,398 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 16.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,087,913 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,276,000 after acquiring an additional 150,367 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 1.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 443,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $229,139,000 after purchasing an additional 5,203 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total transaction of $616,067.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $286,183.41. This represents a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,289 shares of company stock worth $685,273 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOC has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $509.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE NOC opened at $493.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $71.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $523.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $486.19.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced 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 return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.18 EPS. Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.05%.

Northrop Grumman 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.