Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) Plans $2.06 Quarterly Dividend

Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 2.06 per share by the aerospace company on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%.

Northrop Grumman has increased its dividend by an average of 9.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Northrop Grumman has a payout ratio of 28.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Northrop Grumman to earn $28.99 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.4%.

Northrop Grumman Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Northrop Grumman stock opened at $441.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $63.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.35. Northrop Grumman has a 1 year low of $418.60 and a 1 year high of $555.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $473.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $498.62.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 26.24%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman will post 28.05 EPS for the current year.

Northrop Grumman declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Northrop Grumman from $550.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $587.00 to $591.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Northrop Grumman from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.56.

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.