Wedmont Private Capital Buys 55 Shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,014 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1,402.9% in the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 12,925 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,186,000 after buying an additional 12,065 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 1st quarter valued at about $870,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 1st quarter valued at about $778,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 7,574.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 123,637 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $57,879,000 after purchasing an additional 122,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $264,000. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In related news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total value of $663,330.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,225,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Northrop Grumman news, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,389 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.56, for a total transaction of $663,330.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,755 shares in the company, valued at $3,225,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas H. Jones sold 1,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $695,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,634 shares in the company, valued at $2,317,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on NOC shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $467.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $477.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $474.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $521.33.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NOC traded up $0.66 on Tuesday, hitting $502.32. 521,034 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 965,114. Northrop Grumman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $414.56 and a fifty-two week high of $506.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $448.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $456.87. The stock has a market cap of $74.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.32.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The aerospace company reported $6.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.93 by $0.43. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 25.44%. The company had revenue of $10.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.18 earnings per share for the current year.

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.