Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Stock Position Lifted by X Square Capital LLC

X Square Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,473 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 46 shares during the quarter. X Square Capital LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NOC. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total transaction of $213,788.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 245 shares in the company, valued at $112,883.75. This trade represents a 65.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $500.00 to $575.00 in a report on Thursday. Argus upgraded Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $545.00 to $547.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Eight 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $545.06.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $513.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $74.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $477.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $493.12.

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

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.