Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Stock: Machina Capital S.A.S. Cuts Position

Machina Capital S.A.S. reduced its position in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,182 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 4,727 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $2,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Gables Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,763 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 16.9% in the third quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 1,190 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 14.6% in the third quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 541 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 12.8% in the third quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 725 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other news, Director Mark Welsh, III sold 98 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.65, for a total transaction of $54,453.70. Following the sale, the director owned 4,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,074.10. This trade represents a 2.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $550.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 1-year low of $470.06 and a 1-year high of $774.00. The company has a market capitalization of $78.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of -0.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $519.78 and a 200-day moving average of $587.07.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.18 by $0.71. The business had revenue of $11.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.14 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 10.37%. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $2.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NOC. Deutsche Bank set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $785.00 to $655.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $643.74.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers. Its business spans aeronautics, defense, mission technologies and space, including military aircraft, autonomous systems, missile and air-defense capabilities, sensors, communications and satellites. The company is the prime contractor for the B-21 Raider and is developing the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system. It also supplies technologies and components for other defense programs, as well as launch vehicles, propulsion systems and spacecraft.