Stephens Inc. AR Buys 583 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 4.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,513 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $6,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NOC. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,623,128,000 after buying an additional 621,636 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1,915.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 438,521 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $191,173,000 after buying an additional 416,768 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,634,043 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,218,132,000 after buying an additional 211,459 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter valued at $90,177,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter valued at $74,206,000. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $506.86 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $418.60 and a fifty-two week high of $555.57. The firm has a market cap of $73.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $523.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $482.84.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $550.56.

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.