HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Acquires Shares of 9,781 Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,781 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,590,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at $283,114,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 74.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $517,028,000 after buying an additional 502,060 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 10.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,975,754,000 after buying an additional 410,736 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman in the third quarter valued at approximately $165,786,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 2,801.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 330,499 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $154,720,000 after acquiring an additional 319,109 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on NOC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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. Susquehanna upped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $514.33.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE NOC traded up $1.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $430.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 986,146. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $414.56 and a fifty-two week high of $496.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $460.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $462.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

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

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

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.