Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Position Reduced by Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 82.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 732 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 3,514 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NOC. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.5% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,206 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 895 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 29.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 23,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $10,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,285 shares during the period. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 12,673.3% during the second quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,901 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,183.41. This 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 sold a total of 1,255 shares of company stock worth $663,859 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NOC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 dropped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.94.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.3 %

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $482.49 on Tuesday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $480.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $494.51. 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 company has a market capitalization of $70.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.35.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.05%.

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.