Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 2,693 Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its position in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 50.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,683 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 2,693 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $1,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NOC. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 7.0% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $41,914,000 after purchasing an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,835,097,000 after buying an additional 209,135 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $63,822,000 after buying an additional 9,924 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at $1,987,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Northrop Grumman this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Northrop Grumman won a roughly $312.34 million contract modification to keep producing Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 systems for the U.S. Navy, extending work through August 2029 and reinforcing multi-year revenue visibility. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Additional coverage highlighted the award as evidence of strong demand for advanced electronic warfare and mission-critical defense technology, which supports the bullish case for NOC’s order pipeline. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary also pointed to Northrop Grumman’s recent contract wins in space, propulsion, and missile systems, plus its reaffirmed 2026 outlook and upcoming July 21 earnings date, as reasons investors are rotating into the stock. Article Title

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 0.2%

NOC opened at $547.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.15. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a one year low of $493.84 and a one year high of $774.00. The company has a market cap of $77.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of -0.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $544.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $626.92.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The aerospace company reported $6.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.06 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.75 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 10.80%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.06 earnings per share. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 27.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $2.47 dividend. This represents a $9.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on NOC shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $765.00 to $745.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Northrop Grumman from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $698.37.

About Northrop Grumman

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.