Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Makes New $52,000 Investment in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 119 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,623,128,000 after buying an additional 621,636 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Northrop Grumman by 2,801.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 330,499 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $154,720,000 after purchasing an additional 319,109 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors Fund L P bought a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the first quarter worth $108,369,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,634,043 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,218,132,000 after purchasing an additional 211,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at $97,866,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on NOC shares. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $516.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $695,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,317,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $695,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares in the company, valued at $2,317,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,225,917.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE NOC traded up $4.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $491.00. The stock had a trading volume of 196,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 970,233. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $414.56 and a twelve month high of $506.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $444.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $455.86. The firm has a market cap of $72.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.32.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.93 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $10.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.02 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 25.44% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.18 EPS for the current 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 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 1.68%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio 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.