Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Sold by TIAA Trust National Association

TIAA Trust National Association decreased its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,580 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,225 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $7,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 32.0% in the second quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 256 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter worth $1,690,000. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the second quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,421 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,159,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter worth $296,000. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.9% in the second quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 66,999 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,208,000 after acquiring an additional 2,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $440.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $474.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.20.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total transaction 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total transaction 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,317,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,813 shares of company stock worth $1,375,877. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE NOC opened at $522.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $414.56 and a 1 year high of $526.66. The company has a market capitalization of $77.35 billion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $473.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $464.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The company had revenue of $10.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.34 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.62%.

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.