Farther Finance Advisors LLC Acquires 147 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,810 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 702 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 81,642 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $38,314,000 after purchasing an additional 22,121 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,090 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,858,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 840 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,267 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NOC shares. StockNews.com cut Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on 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. Wolfe Research raised Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $625.00 to $557.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.88.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $486.10 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $471.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $494.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12 month low of $418.60 and a 12 month high of $555.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.08%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total value of $213,788.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares in the company, valued at $112,883.75. The trade was a 65.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,505 shares of company stock worth $2,126,405. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.