Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. Takes Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 887 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NOC. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,239,434 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $3,866,133,000 after acquiring an additional 461,307 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,030,644 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $952,962,000 after purchasing an additional 450,858 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 337.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 482,112 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $226,250,000 after purchasing an additional 371,814 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at about $171,580,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,733,680 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $813,599,000 after buying an additional 343,018 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total value of $82,383.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 709 shares of the company's stock, valued at $304,217.72. The trade was a 21.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,632 in the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NOC. Wells Fargo & Company set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Argus raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $557.00 to $540.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Northrop Grumman from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Northrop Grumman from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $424.00 to $521.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $545.31.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC stock traded down $1.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $486.44. The stock had a trading volume of 875,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 890,423. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $497.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $487.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.15. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The aerospace company reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $6.33 by ($0.27). Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. The company had revenue of $9.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.07 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman's dividend payout ratio is 32.52%.

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.