Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Buys 306 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,773 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $2,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NOC. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 1,782 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 524 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 844 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 727 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 493 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on NOC. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $475.00 to $505.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $510.36.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NOC traded up $1.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $435.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,103,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,069,240. 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 firm has a market cap of $64.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $456.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $459.43. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $414.56 and a one year high of $496.89.

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

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.87. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.