Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 343 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,856 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $6,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NOC. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 102.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 735,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $388,448,000 after purchasing an additional 372,500 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,426,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,315,729,000 after buying an additional 141,816 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter worth $66,171,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at about $622,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 154.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 157,601 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $83,224,000 after buying an additional 95,724 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $595.00 to $574.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.56.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 1.1 %

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $473.94 on Tuesday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week high of $555.57. The firm has a market cap of $68.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $476.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $500.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 27.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.