Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Makes New Investment in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL bought a new position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,437 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 5.6% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,747,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,623,128,000 after buying an additional 621,636 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 1,915.9% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 438,521 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $191,173,000 after buying an additional 416,768 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at about $90,177,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman in the second quarter valued at about $74,206,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 113.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 296,844 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $129,409,000 after buying an additional 157,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NOC. Barclays increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com raised Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Northrop Grumman from $509.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $550.56.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $493.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week high of $555.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $523.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $486.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.35.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.07 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.57% and a net margin of 5.79%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 25.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $8.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is 51.05%.

Insider Activity at Northrop Grumman

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of Northrop Grumman stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total transaction of $616,067.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,289 shares of company stock valued at $685,273 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.