Foster & Motley Inc. Boosts Position in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)

Key Points

• Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation by 230.8%, acquiring an additional 6,775 shares, bringing total holdings to 9,711 shares valued at approximately $4.97 million.
• Several hedge funds made significant buys, including GAMMA Investing LLC, which increased its position by 55,522.3%, now holding 1,520,158 shares worth nearly $778.34 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Northrop Grumman, with Bank of America raising its target to $650 and most analysts assigning a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $578.93.

Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC - Free Report) by 230.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,711 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,775 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.'s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $4,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 78,928 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $40,412,000 after purchasing an additional 15,557 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 1st quarter valued at about $217,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 1,529 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 2,245 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NOC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $580.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Northrop Grumman from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $424.00 to $521.00 in a report on Friday, April 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $547.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $586.79.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 1.8%

Northrop Grumman stock traded up $10.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $587.13. The company had a trading volume of 1,006,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,934. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $509.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $493.55. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 12 month low of $426.24 and a 12 month high of $587.88. The company has a market capitalization of $84.07 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.15.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The aerospace company reported $7.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.84 by $0.27. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 9.74%. The business had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $2.31 dividend. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman's previous quarterly dividend of $2.06. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Northrop Grumman's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.77, for a total value of $3,793,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 201,602 shares in the company, valued at $101,964,243.54. The trade was a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 729 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.77, for a total value of $368,706.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 7,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,819,575.04. This represents a 8.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,569 shares of company stock worth $8,323,150 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company's stock.

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.