Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Sells 51 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC decreased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $694,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 16,660 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,818,000 after buying an additional 2,770 shares during the period. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 48,367 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $22,698,000 after buying an additional 1,786 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman during the 3rd quarter worth about $604,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 212,514 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $112,222,000 after buying an additional 5,334 shares during the period. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1,316.9% during the 4th quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 16,139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,574,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on NOC shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.88.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total transaction of $82,383.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,217.72. This trade represents a 21.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total transaction of $1,783,687.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,243,053.80. The trade was a 1.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $486.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $70.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $471.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $494.49. Northrop Grumman Co. has a one year low of $418.60 and a one year high of $555.57.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. Research analysts predict that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $2.06 dividend. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.