Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Coverage Initiated at Truist Financial

Equities researchers at Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target suggests a potential upside of 15.21% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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 note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna reduced 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $550.94.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $472.19 on Tuesday. Northrop Grumman has a fifty-two week low of $418.60 and a fifty-two week high of $555.57. The stock has a market cap of $68.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $483.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $493.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of Northrop Grumman 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,255 shares of company stock valued at $663,859. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,387 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 12.3% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,229 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $972,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 135.9% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,333 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 683,427 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $297,937,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 138.1% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,601 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

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.