New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 300 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,522 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $3,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,140,892 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,186,681,000 after acquiring an additional 17,596 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,003,360 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,581,644,000 after acquiring an additional 18,791 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 6.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,426,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,315,729,000 after acquiring an additional 141,816 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 809,445 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $427,444,000 after acquiring an additional 3,211 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 102.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 735,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $388,448,000 after acquiring an additional 372,500 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NOC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $595.00 to $574.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price objective for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.56.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $438.70 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $474.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $499.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. On average, equities analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 27.94 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.08%.

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.