New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New $2.89 Million Investment in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 6,163 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,892,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NOC stock opened at $511.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $478.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $492.84. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NOC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial began coverage on Northrop Grumman in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $544.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $545.00 to $547.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 464 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.75, for a total transaction of $213,788.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,883.75. This trade represents a 65.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.