Sunbelt Securities Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 91.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 353 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 3,813 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 117.4% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,237 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $985,000 after buying an additional 1,208 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,154 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $949,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 5,062 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 385.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 14,524 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,393,000 after acquiring an additional 11,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $530.00 to $500.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $483.00 to $518.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $510.36.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.2 %

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $435.95 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12-month low of $414.56 and a 12-month high of $496.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.52 billion, a PE ratio of 30.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $456.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $459.43.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.62%.

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.