UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Grows Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 216.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,919 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,679 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 45.9% in the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 1,147 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the first quarter valued at about $207,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 167,282 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $80,071,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.4% in the first quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 61,557 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 32.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 243 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on NOC. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $530.00 to $500.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 21st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $510.36.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE NOC traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $442.35. 1,300,987 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,671. The stock has a market cap of $65.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $441.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $455.41. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $414.56 and a 52 week high of $496.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.83 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.09% and a net margin of 5.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.50 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.