Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Shares Bought by Smith Thornton Advisors LLC

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 39.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,131 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,387 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,229 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 135.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,333 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $581,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 683,427 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $297,937,000 after buying an additional 125,262 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $21,492,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NOC opened at $472.19 on Thursday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $483.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $493.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.35. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 26.57%. The business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 51.05%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NOC. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $557.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $550.94.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,255 shares of company stock worth $663,859. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.