Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) has been in the spotlight recently, drawing attention from eighteen analysts who have all released their consensus rating of “Hold” on the stock, as reported by Bloomberg Ratings. While this rating may not necessarily be seen as a glowing endorsement for potential investors, it’s worth noting that six analysts have given a “buy” recommendation and eight have suggested holding the stock. Only one investment analyst gave it a sell recommendation.
Investor interest in this aerospace company is further evidenced by recent modifications to holdings by several institutional investors and hedge funds. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased their position in Northrop Grumman by 65.9%, while Franklin Resources Inc. saw a boost of 62.6%. Jennison Associates LLC also upped their stake by 29.9% during Q4 of the previous fiscal year.
In terms of dividends, Northrop Grumman declared a quarterly payment on March 15th to shareholders of record on February 27th following an ex-dividend date of February 24th. The payment amounted to $1.73 per share to its stakeholders with an annualized dividend payout ratio of 22.39%.
Looking ahead, the average target price among analysts over the past year has been $505 USD per share which could move NOC’s current trading price at $440 USD higher if reached – sketched analysts.
Before considering investments in NOC’s stocks though, take note that there are many factors that can affect their value including market trends, socio-political changes, and unexpected events such as pandemics or natural disasters making investing still significantly luck-based.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett once said: “I never attempt to make money on the stock market… I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.” And, he added in another interview: “The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient”. Therefore, one of the best approaches for investing would be long-term patience.
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Shifting Analysis and Insider Sales Impact Northrop Grumman’s Target Prices, Stock Ratings and Dividend Distributions
Northrop Grumman Corporation, a leading aerospace and defense technology company, has been the subject of numerous research analyst reports in recent months. Many of these reports have involved adjustments to target prices and stock ratings. While Wells Fargo & Company raised its target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating back in January 2017, Royal Bank of Canada lowered its target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the stock just a few days later.
JPMorgan Chase & Co then became the next firm to change its stance on Northrop Grumman shares, lowering its target price from $465.00 to $400.00 and issuing a “neutral” rating instead of the previously assigned “overweight”. Cowen also downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating while lowering their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $478.00 around this same time frame.
Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $615.00 to $535.00 but issued a positive rating based on other factors such as earnings growth potential and industry activity trends.
Amidst all this shifting analysis and commentary on potential future success rates for Northrop Grumman, two notable insider trading deals occurred recently involving significant sales by VPs Mark A Caylor and David T Perry respectively. Perry sold 3,999 shares at an average price of $469.65 per share, bringing his total transaction value close to $1,878,130 while Vice President Caylor parted with 2,810 shares in exchange for roughly $1,313,899.
Despite these insider trades impacting company overall ownership by less than a fraction of a percentage point, it’s worth noting that Northrop Grumman has been sustaining impressive dividend distributions and payout ratios in recent months as well. On March 15th, the company paid out its latest quarterly dividend to stockholders of record, offering a $1.73 per-share payout that represents an annualized total of $6.92 and a yield of 1.57%.
Northrop Grumman currently trades on the NYSE with the ticker symbol NOC and an opening price of $439.37 as of May 16, 2023. The company holds a market capitalization value approaching $67 billion dollars, which helps drive an earnings-per-share ratio (EPS) of roughly $22.6 for the current fiscal year thus far according to some equities analysts.
Ultimately, investors interested in Northrop Grumman and similar aerospace/defense technology companies are recommended to take all potential factors into consideration before investing funds into any particular stock or security. While insider sales are just one aspect worth weighing against other financial metrics like target prices and dividends distributed, identifying patterns within this pool of information could indicate certain future directions for both stocks themselves as well as their respective markets at large moving forward.
