Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 997 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,059 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 1,877 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,610,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 74.6% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 234 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman during the third quarter valued at approximately $232,000. 83.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $560.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.3 %

Northrop Grumman stock opened at $505.45 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $523.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $482.27. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12 month low of $418.60 and a 12 month high of $555.57. The company has a market capitalization of $73.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.34.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.07 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $10 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $2.06 per share. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is currently 51.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,317,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,490 shares of company stock valued at $747,372 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Northrop Grumman

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.