Simon Quick Advisors LLC Trims Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,041 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $775,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 29.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 23,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,127,000 after acquiring an additional 5,285 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 709 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 74.6% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,167 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 767 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NOC opened at $502.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $478.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $495.31. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.18 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to purchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 51.05%.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total transaction of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 1,255 shares of company stock valued at $663,859 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NOC. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price objective for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.94.

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.