California State Teachers Retirement System Has $119.85 Million Position in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC – Get Rating) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 254,832 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 6,444 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Northrop Grumman were worth $119,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 72,647 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $34,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,325 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Northrop Grumman by 2.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 11,506 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,507,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 10.9% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 18.6% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 469,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $220,637,000 after purchasing an additional 73,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Northrop Grumman by 4.7% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,282 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,357,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cowen lowered Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $478.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Northrop Grumman from $626.00 to $601.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Credit Suisse Group lowered their price target on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Northrop Grumman from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $544.00 to $488.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $508.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Northrop Grumman

In other Northrop Grumman news, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 1,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.81, for a total transaction of $551,080.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,280,395.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Mark A. Caylor sold 2,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.58, for a total value of $1,313,899.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 16,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,593,499.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Michael A. Hardesty sold 1,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.81, for a total value of $551,080.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,737 shares in the company, valued at $1,280,395.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,534 shares of company stock worth $4,934,622. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Stock Down 1.0 %

NOC stock opened at $448.90 on Thursday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a twelve month low of $416.23 and a twelve month high of $556.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $68.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day moving average of $463.98 and a 200 day moving average of $495.04.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The aerospace company reported $7.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.57 by $0.93. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 28.29% and a net margin of 13.38%. The business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 21.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Northrop Grumman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 24th. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio is 21.96%.

About Northrop Grumman

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Northrop Grumman Corp. engages in the provision of advanced aircraft systems. It operates through the following segments: Aeronautics Systems, Defense Systems, Mission Systems, and Space Systems. The Aeronautics Systems segment is involved in the design, development, production, integration, sustainment, and modernization of advanced aircraft systems for the U.S.