Empowered Funds LLC Trims Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Empowered Funds LLC trimmed its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,003 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 7,083 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $5,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 1.9% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,976 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,628,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $212,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 7.2% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 20,597 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $10,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382 shares in the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 35.9% during the third quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 1,023 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.8% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,580 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,890,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NOC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $474.00 to $575.00 in a report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Northrop Grumman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NOC stock opened at $493.99 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $523.27 and a 200 day moving average of $486.19. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.35.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. The firm had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.05%.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total transaction of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,289 shares of company stock worth $685,273 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.