Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) to Issue $2.06 Quarterly Dividend

Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 2.06 per share by the aerospace company on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd.

Northrop Grumman has raised its dividend by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Northrop Grumman has a dividend payout ratio of 29.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Northrop Grumman to earn $27.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $496.41 on Friday. Northrop Grumman has a 52-week low of $418.60 and a 52-week high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $521.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $486.55. The company has a market cap of $72.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.35.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $10 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.18 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was 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 $286,183.41. This represents a 68.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,289 shares of company stock worth $685,273 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $550.56.

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.