Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) Stock Price

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $565.00 to $505.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the aerospace company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 6.08% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $521.00 to $587.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Northrop Grumman from $614.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Northrop Grumman from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Northrop Grumman to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $546.81.

Northrop Grumman Price Performance

NYSE:NOC traded down $4.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $476.04. The stock had a trading volume of 165,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 856,720. 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 has a 52 week low of $418.60 and a 52 week high of $555.57. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $511.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $487.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.33.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $7.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 25.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Northrop Grumman

In other news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 1,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.93, for a total value of $616,067.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,183.41. The trade was a 68.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,255 shares of company stock valued at $666,461. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,140,892 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,186,681,000 after buying an additional 17,596 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,003,360 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,581,644,000 after buying an additional 18,791 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,426,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,315,729,000 after buying an additional 141,816 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,087,913 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,276,000 after buying an additional 150,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 809,445 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $427,444,000 after buying an additional 3,211 shares in the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Northrop Grumman Company 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.