Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. Sells 566 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 406 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 566 shares during the period. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 241.2% in the 2nd quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 58 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Northrop Grumman during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,225,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,317,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,846 shares of company stock worth $1,393,028 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.20.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE NOC traded down $4.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $515.00. 535,692 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 925,860. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12-month low of $414.56 and a 12-month high of $528.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $76.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $478.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $465.44.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.93 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $10.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. Northrop Grumman’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.