Northrop Grumman falls as investors focus on Q1 cash burn and a Space Systems charge

Northrop Grumman (NOC) is down 5.7% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The move appears tied to the company’s Q1 2026 earnings release: while headline sales and EPS were strong, investors may be reacting to sizable first-quarter cash usage and a notable unfavorable program adjustment in Space Systems. Another likely factor is that full-year guidance was reaffirmed rather than raised, which can disappoint when expectations had crept higher.

Details:

Q1 2026 sales rose to about $9.9B and diluted EPS increased to $6.14, with results benefiting versus last year when Aeronautics was hit by a B-21 loss provision.

Cash flow was a key pressure point: operating cash flow was a use of about $1.66B and free cash flow was a use of about $1.82B for the quarter, which the company described as consistent with its typical seasonality.

Space Systems operating income and margin declined, including a $71M unfavorable EAC adjustment on the GEM 63XL program tied to a launch anomaly, alongside lower sales as work on NGI winds down.

The company reaffirmed full-year 2026 targets (including sales and free cash flow), and highlighted agreements to expand B-21 production capacity and accelerate Sentinel initial operating capability, which could imply higher execution and investment intensity.

Sources:

Northrop Grumman (Investor Relations), MarketScreener, StockTitan

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$NOC Insider Trading Activity

$NOC insiders have traded $NOC stock on the open market 32 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 32 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $NOC stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

KATHY J WARDEN (Chair, CEO and President) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 10,000 shares for an estimated $6,045,000.
ROSHAN S ROEDER (CVP & Pres. Mission Systems) has made 0 purchases and 4 sales selling 2,668 shares for an estimated $1,905,484.
BENJAMIN R. DAVIES (CVP & Pres. Defense Systems) sold 2,189 shares for an estimated $1,575,255
MICHAEL A HARDESTY (Corp VP, Controller & CAO) has made 0 purchases and 4 sales selling 1,646 shares for an estimated $1,159,767.
KATHRYN G SIMPSON (Corp VP & General Counsel) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 973 shares for an estimated $688,452.
MARK A III WELSH has made 0 purchases and 19 sales selling 192 shares for an estimated $119,744.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

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$NOC Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 763 institutional investors add shares of $NOC stock to their portfolio, and 731 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 2,363,907 shares (-78.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $1,347,923,410
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP removed 1,469,343 shares (-34.4%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $837,834,072
CAPITAL WORLD INVESTORS added 970,029 shares (+39.4%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $553,120,236
AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL INC removed 570,217 shares (-35.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $325,143,435
BLACKROCK, INC. added 536,316 shares (+5.4%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $305,812,746
PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/ removed 487,629 shares (-21.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $278,050,932
J. STERN & CO. LLP added 421,215 shares (+56920.9%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $240,181,005

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$NOC Government Contracts

We have seen $6,900,818,485 of award payments to $NOC over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

GROUND-BASED STRATEGIC DETERRENT (GBSD) ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING DEVELOPMENT (EMD) AND EARLY PRODUCTIO...: $961,819,429
NEXT GENERATION OVERHEAD PERSISTENT INFRARED POLAR SPACE VEHICLES 1 AND 2 STUDY.: $351,776,185
BLOCK 3 EA SUBSYSTEM HEMISPHERE PRODUCTION: $348,905,035
IGF::OT::IGF NEXTSTEP NRA AWARD. THIS NEXTSTEP CONTRACT BUILDS UPON THE SUCCESS OF COMMERCIAL ORBITAL TRAN...: $344,224,032
INTEGRATED BATTLE COMMAND SYSTEM (IBCS) HARDWARE FULL RATE PRODUCTION FOR WISLA PHASE II.: $319,214,775

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard.

$NOC Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $NOC stock 1 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 1 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $NOC stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE STEVE COHEN sold up to $50,000 on 12/29.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard.

$NOC Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $NOC in the last several months. We have seen 3 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

BTIG issued a "Buy" rating on 01/28/2026
B of A Securities issued a "Buy" rating on 01/28/2026
Citigroup issued a "Buy" rating on 01/13/2026

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $NOC, check out Quiver Quantitative's $NOC forecast page.

$NOC Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $NOC recently. We have seen 9 analysts offer price targets for $NOC in the last 6 months, with a median target of $750.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Sheila Kahyaoglu from Jefferies set a target price of $710.0 on 04/09/2026
John Godyn from Citigroup set a target price of $807.0 on 04/02/2026
David Strauss from Wells Fargo set a target price of $800.0 on 04/01/2026
Andre Madrid from BTIG set a target price of $815.0 on 01/28/2026
Ronald Epstein from B of A Securities set a target price of $750.0 on 01/28/2026
Ken Herbert from RBC Capital set a target price of $750.0 on 01/28/2026
Gavin Parsons from UBS set a target price of $778.0 on 01/28/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.