Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Sold by Searle & CO.

Searle & CO. trimmed its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,390 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. Northrop Grumman comprises approximately 0.8% of Searle & CO.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $3,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 81.7% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 856 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,767 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,102,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. TFG Advisers LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman during the third quarter worth $225,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 1.4% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,437 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,815,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $593.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $535.00.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 0.4 %

Northrop Grumman stock traded down $2.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $518.15. The stock had a trading volume of 102,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 869,242. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.68 billion, a PE ratio of 36.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.34. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12 month low of $418.60 and a 12 month high of $555.57. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $522.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.93 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $10.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.16 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $695,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,317,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,879 shares of company stock worth $1,410,703. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.