HM Payson & Co. Increases Stock Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,054 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 960.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 53 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 247.6% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 73 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NOC stock traded up $1.19 on Friday, reaching $494.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,045,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 916,339. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $443.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $455.75. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $414.56 and a 1 year high of $505.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $72.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.32.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.93 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $10.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.34 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 57.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $593.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $440.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $516.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total transaction of $663,330.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,225,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.