Barclays Initiates Coverage of Northrop Grumman at Underweight
Fintel reports that on October 9, 2026, Barclays initiated coverage of Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) (LSE:0K92) with a Underweight recommendation. This action occurred alongside other analyst activities on the same day, including TD Cowen maintaining its Hold rating on the stock. This follows a series of recent analyst actions, which include Rothschild & Co initiating coverage with a Buy rating on October 6, 2026, and RBC Capital downgrading the stock from Outperform to Sector Perform on October 2, 2026. Prior to these, Bernstein maintained its Market Perform rating on September 23, 2026, and Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Buy rating on September 15, 2026.
The stock closed at $480.75 on October 9, 2026, compared to a pre-action close of $484.48 on October 8, 2026. This latest closing price represents a one-week price change of +0.58% from the baseline close of $478.00 on October 2, 2026, and a one-month price change of -6.75% from the baseline close of $515.57 on September 9, 2026.
Separately from the Barclays rating, aggregate analyst data shows a current consensus target mean of $659.51 and a median of $642.60 as of October 3, 2026. This mean target represents an implied change of +37.18% from the stock's valuation. The prior consensus target mean was $663.67 as of September 15, 2026, reflecting a consensus target revision of -0.63%. For the recommendation period of September 1, 2026, the aggregate recommendations consisted of 5 strong buy, 12 buy, 11 hold, 0 sell, and 0 strong sell ratings, totaling 28 recommendations. This represents 60.7% positive, 39.3% hold, and 0.0% negative recommendations. In the prior period of August 1, 2026, the total of 28 recommendations included 5 strong buy, 13 buy, 10 hold, 0 sell, and 0 strong sell ratings, representing 64.3% positive, 35.7% hold, and 0.0% negative recommendations.
Northrop Grumman reported its latest quarterly earnings on July 21, 2026, with an actual EPS of 7.68, which exceeded the estimated EPS of 6.8881, representing an EPS surprise of +11.50%. The company's actual revenue was $10,876,000,000.00, compared to the estimated revenue of $10,914,511,409.00. The company's upcoming earnings announcement is scheduled for October 20, 2026, during the bmo session. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a prominent player in the global aerospace and defense industry, serving as the prime contractor for the U.S. Air Force's B-21 Raider long-range strike bomber and contributing significantly to the F-35 Lightning II program.
Recent analyst actions
| Date | Analyst | Prior | Latest recommendation | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 9, 2026 | Barclays | Underweight | initiated coverage | |
| October 9, 2026 | TD Cowen | Hold | Hold | maintained |
| October 6, 2026 | Rothschild & Co | Buy | initiated coverage | |
| October 2, 2026 | RBC Capital | Outperform | Sector Perform | downgrade |
| September 23, 2026 | Bernstein | Market Perform | Market Perform | maintained |
| September 15, 2026 | Guggenheim | Buy | initiated coverage |
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This story originally appeared on Fintel.