42,707 Shares in Northrop Grumman Corporation $NOC Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 42,707 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,648,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NOC. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,169,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,707,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,267 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Northrop Grumman in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,001,616,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Northrop Grumman during the second quarter worth about $1,298,141,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 960,690 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $655,373,000 after purchasing an additional 5,811 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Northrop Grumman by 11.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $400,557,000 after purchasing an additional 58,690 shares during the period. 83.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $555.58 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Northrop Grumman Corporation has a 52-week low of $470.06 and a 52-week high of $774.00. The company has a market capitalization of $78.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of -0.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $520.57 and a 200 day moving average of $591.43.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The aerospace company reported $7.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.18 by $0.71. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company had revenue of $11.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Corporation will post 29.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a dividend of $2.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Northrop Grumman’s payout ratio is presently 31.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on NOC shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $419.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $615.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $600.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $540.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Northrop Grumman from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $550.00 to $675.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $643.74.

About Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a global aerospace and defense company that develops and produces systems for government and commercial customers, with the U.S. government representing its primary customer base. The company operates across aerospace, defense, space, cybersecurity and advanced technology markets.

Its products and services include military aircraft and autonomous systems, space systems and satellites, missile defense technologies, command-and-control systems, cyber solutions, sensors, communications networks and other mission-critical systems.