Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Increases Stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 9.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 813 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 67 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.6% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,623,128,000 after purchasing an additional 621,636 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.8% in the first 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. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,688,511 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,765,543,000 after purchasing an additional 23,398 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 16.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,087,913 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,276,000 after purchasing an additional 150,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 22.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 683,427 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $297,937,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northrop Grumman Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE:NOC opened at $523.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $523.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $484.30. The company has a market cap of $76.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $418.60 and a twelve month high of $555.57.

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

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $2.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 51.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NOC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $474.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upgraded Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Northrop Grumman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman 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.