Smithfield Trust Co Buys 35 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Smithfield Trust Co increased its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 0.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,318 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $3,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NOC. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 241.2% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 58 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter worth $28,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 245.5% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 76 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Alembic Global Advisors cut Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $491.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $521.50 and its 200 day moving average is $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 Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of Northrop Grumman 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 directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,289 shares of company stock worth $685,273. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.