Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 75.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 532 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,659 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NOC. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $283,114,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 74.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $517,028,000 after buying an additional 502,060 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,488,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,975,754,000 after buying an additional 410,736 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $165,786,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,605,679 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $706,804,000 after buying an additional 362,515 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $540.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $450.00 price target (down from $515.00) on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $532.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $497.23.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

NYSE NOC opened at $474.40 on Wednesday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52-week low of $414.56 and a 52-week high of $496.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $70.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $460.67 and a 200-day moving average of $465.48.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.80 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.43 billion. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 23.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 24.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $1.87 dividend. This represents a $7.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total value of $430,103.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,863,180.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.37, for a total transaction of $430,103.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,863,180.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $454.68, for a total transaction of $95,482.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,421,784.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,149 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,147 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.