Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Grows Holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 0.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,056 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $6,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 241.2% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 58 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 245.5% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 76 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 281.5% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 103 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $535.00.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE NOC opened at $523.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week high of $555.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.58 billion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $522.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.30.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The business had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 53.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $695,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,317,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,490 shares of company stock worth $747,372. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.