Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Shares Sold by Focused Investors LLC

Focused Investors LLC decreased its stake in Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,400 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 30,300 shares during the period. Northrop Grumman makes up 3.9% of Focused Investors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Focused Investors LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $121,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,434,041 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,958,151,000 after acquiring an additional 970,029 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,125,139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,781,986,000 after acquiring an additional 128,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,666,517 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $950,265,000 after acquiring an additional 62,817 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NOC shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $660.00 to $620.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Northrop Grumman from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $742.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $765.00 to $745.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.63.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC stock opened at $521.85 on Monday. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 1 year low of $481.28 and a 1 year high of $774.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $574.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $629.90. The firm has a market cap of $74.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of -0.12.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The aerospace company reported $6.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.06 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.88 billion for 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%.Northrop Grumman’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.06 EPS. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 27.400-27.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 27.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $2.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is 30.92%.

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.