Northrop Grumman Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $2.06 (NYSE:NOC)

Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 2.06 per share by the aerospace company on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd.

Northrop Grumman has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Northrop Grumman has a payout ratio of 29.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Northrop Grumman to earn $27.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NOC stock traded up $4.66 on Thursday, hitting $496.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 293,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 861,357. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Northrop Grumman has a fifty-two week low of $418.60 and a fifty-two week high of $555.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $521.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $486.48.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 26.57%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $474.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. TD Cowen raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $550.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $286,183.41. This trade represents a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,289 shares of company stock worth $685,273 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

About Northrop Grumman

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.