Orbital ATK’s (NYSE:OA) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Jefferies Group LLC

Orbital ATK, Inc. (NYSE:OA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Jefferies Group LLC in a report released on Friday, August 4th. They currently have a $122.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $115.00. Jefferies Group LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 13.23% from the stock’s previous close. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for Orbital ATK’s Q4 2017 earnings at $1.79 EPS and FY2017 earnings at $6.15 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on OA. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Orbital ATK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. BidaskClub upgraded Orbital ATK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 8th. Cowen and Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Orbital ATK in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of Orbital ATK in a report on Monday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Orbital ATK has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $108.56.

Shares of Orbital ATK (NYSE:OA) traded down 0.86% during midday trading on Friday, hitting $107.75. 188,031 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. Orbital ATK has a 1-year low of $71.52 and a 1-year high of $110.55. The stock has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43 and a beta of -0.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $102.45 and its 200-day moving average is $98.09.

Orbital ATK (NYSE:OA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The aerospace company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Orbital ATK had a return on equity of 15.62% and a net margin of 6.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Analysts predict that Orbital ATK will post $6.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, VP Christine Ann Wolf sold 5,039 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.54, for a total value of $511,660.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Frank L. Jr. Culbertson sold 2,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.89, for a total value of $211,991.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,674 shares of company stock valued at $1,722,611 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Orbital ATK by 17,832.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,090,376 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $498,857,000 after buying an additional 5,061,989 shares in the last quarter. Airain ltd acquired a new stake in Orbital ATK during the first quarter valued at $1,176,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Orbital ATK by 5.0% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 448,256 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $43,929,000 after buying an additional 21,486 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Orbital ATK by 11.6% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,058 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $888,000 after buying an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Orbital ATK by 4.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 691,229 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $67,739,000 after buying an additional 27,571 shares in the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Orbital ATK

Orbital ATK, Inc is an aerospace and defense systems company and supplier of related products to the United States Government, allied nations, prime contractors and other customers. The Company’s segments include Flight Systems Group, Defense Systems Group, Space Systems Group and Corporate. Its products include launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; satellites and associated components and services; tactical missiles, subsystems and defense electronics, and precision weapons, armament systems and ammunition.