Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $72.81 Million Stock Position in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,963 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,362 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.10% of Northrop Grumman worth $72,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,914,000 after purchasing an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $63,822,000 after buying an additional 9,924 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,793,478,000 after acquiring an additional 17,948 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,497 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,958 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $90,639,000 after acquiring an additional 2,025 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Monday, June 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $653.00 price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $745.00 price objective on Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $661.30.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $545.83 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 1 year low of $479.02 and a 1 year high of $774.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $542.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $604.78. The company has a market capitalization of $77.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of -0.11.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 10.48%.The firm had revenue of $10.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.15 EPS. Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 28.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is 31.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total transaction of $52,015.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,405,299.29. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Northrop Grumman Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.