450 Shares in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Purchased by Tillman Hartley LLC

Tillman Hartley LLC acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 450 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 960.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 53 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 247.6% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 73 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on NOC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $514.33.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE NOC traded up $1.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $473.78. The company had a trading volume of 352,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 971,657. Northrop Grumman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $414.56 and a fifty-two week high of $496.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $468.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $465.06. The firm has a market cap of $70.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.34.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.83 by $0.49. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.09% and a net margin of 5.38%. The firm had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.7 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.31%.

Northrop Grumman 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.