United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Sells 403 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC cut its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,647 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $5,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 16,660 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,770 shares during the period. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 48,367 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $22,698,000 after buying an additional 1,786 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,132,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth approximately $284,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,025,263 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,417,850,000 after purchasing an additional 21,903 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NOC. Truist Financial began coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $424.00 to $521.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total transaction of $82,383.36. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,217.72. This represents a 21.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares in the company, valued at $101,243,053.80. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,182 in the last quarter. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.7 %

NOC stock opened at $538.36 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $485.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $492.08. 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 $77.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

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.