Analysts Set Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) Price Target at $693.60

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $693.60.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $715.00 to $781.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $623.00 price target (down from $688.00) on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Friday, January 9th. Vertical Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $688.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $765.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, January 28th.

Trending Headlines about Northrop Grumman

Here are the key news stories impacting Northrop Grumman this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Won a $225.1M Naval Air Systems Command contract to develop training materials for the E-130J program, providing immediate revenue and strengthening NOC’s role in airborne training systems. Northrop Grumman Secures a $225M Contract to Aid E-130J Program
• Positive Sentiment: Secured additional U.S. Space Force and Navy contract actions that expand its deep‑space radar and E-130J-related work, extending backlog and revenue visibility. Northrop Grumman Contracts Extend Backlog And Deepen Long Term Defense Ties
• Positive Sentiment: Awarded work to supply aircraft protection systems to Germany, reinforcing export and allied sales momentum. Northrop Grumman to supply aircraft protection systems to Germany
• Positive Sentiment: White House meeting where defense CEOs agreed to markedly ramp production of advanced weaponry — a policy/PR tailwind that implies higher future demand across prime contractors including NOC. Trump says defense CEOs agree to quadruple production of `Exquisite Class’ weaponry
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive: the stock carries an average “Moderate Buy” consensus, supporting investor confidence in shares. Northrop Grumman Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy”
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail investors and market commentators are rotating back into defense names amid geopolitical volatility, a flow that can amplify moves but is fickle. Retail investor buying holds strong
• Negative Sentiment: Pentagon plans to ban Chinese-origin rare‑earth magnets in military platforms starting 2027, creating a supply-chain re‑qualification and potential cost headwind for manufacturers that use high-performance magnets. This could increase sourcing costs and delays for some NOC systems depending on exposure. U.S. Defense Manufacturers Face A Rare Earth Supply Squeeze
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage highlights the broader industry scramble to build domestic rare‑earth supply chains—good long term, but costly and potentially disruptive in the near term. Why Trump Wants Magnets More Than Gold

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $757.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $107.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.03. Northrop Grumman has a 12-month low of $450.13 and a 12-month high of $774.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $675.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $614.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The aerospace company reported $7.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.97 by $0.26. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 9.97% and a return on equity of 25.57%. The firm had revenue of $11.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a dividend of $2.31 per share. This represents a $9.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 31.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other news, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 20,000 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.82, for a total transaction of $14,176,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 171,602 shares in the company, valued at $121,634,929.64. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $684.52, for a total value of $65,029.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,877,037.56. This represents a 2.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,431 shares of company stock worth $21,969,404. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Northrop Grumman

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Soundwatch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,457,274,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $491,985,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,434,041 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,958,151,000 after acquiring an additional 970,029 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 56,920.9% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 421,955 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $240,603,000 after purchasing an additional 421,215 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 11.8% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,933,061 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,466,472,000 after acquiring an additional 308,680 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.