Northrop Grumman management check
NOC · Industrials · Aerospace & Defense
Filings as of
4 good · 2 to watch · 0 flagged, across the seven questions below.
- Watch
Have owners done well?
Trailed its chosen peers$100 invested at the start of fiscal 2021 grew to $203, against $213 for the peer group the company picked itself.
- Watch
Does pay follow performance?
Pay only loosely tracked returnsOver 5 years, the CEO's pay actually paid (equity valued at the share price) had a correlation of 0.42 with shareholder return. 1 means pay moved in step; below 0, the opposite way.
- Good
What does the CEO cost owners?
0.6% of net income$25.4m of reported pay in fiscal 2025, against $4.2bn of net income.
- n/a
Do they own the stock?
No recent CEO filingLight activity: no buys, $106k sold in six months. 21 of 21 sales ran on pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.
- Good
Are owners being diluted?
Share count shrinkingDiluted shares changed -2.7% a year over the last three fiscal years. Stock-based pay was 0.3% of revenue in the latest year.
- Good
Is leadership stable?
8 leadership filings in 3 years8 filings under 8-K item 5.02 (officers or directors leaving or joining, or new pay arrangements) in the last 3 years.
- Good
Are the books clean?
No red flags on fileNo restatements, auditor changes or late filings since 2021.
Against the S&P 500
Each check's score (0–100) and how it compares: the share of ranked S&P 500 companies it matches or beats, and the median in Industrials.
| Check | Score | At or above | Sector median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner returns | 44 | 55 | |
| Pay for performance | 71 | 86 | |
| CEO cost | 68 | 48 | |
| Skin in the game | — | — | 55 |
| Dilution | 84 | 62 | |
| Stable leadership | 85 | 75 | |
| Clean books | 100 | 100 |
Closest peers
Others in Aerospace & Defense, by management score. Northrop Grumman is 15th of 81 in its sector.
- 21GEGE Aerospace85
- 44RTXRTX Corporation82
- 98HWMHowmet Aerospace76
- 113NOCNorthrop Grumman75
- 130LMTLockheed Martin73
- 154GDGeneral Dynamics72
- 206TXTTextron68
- 217TDGTransDigm Group67
- 310LHXL3Harris61
- 382HIIHuntington Ingalls Industries55
Pay versus performance
From the proxy statement filed April 3, 2026. "Actually paid" values stock awards at the share price, so it rises and falls with the stock.
| Fiscal year | CEO | CEO pay | Actually paid | Other executives (avg) | $100 became | Peers | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | $25.4m | $46.1m | $5.7m | $203 | $213 | $4.2bn |
| 2024 | — | $24.4m | $26.4m | $5.3m | $148 | $125 | $4.2bn |
| 2023 | — | $24.7m | $13.4m | $5.8m | $145 | $111 | $2.1bn |
| 2022 | — | $20.7m | $54.7m | $5.4m | $167 | $106 | $4.9bn |
| 2021 | — | $19.9m | $38.9m | $5.3m | $116 | $92 | $7.0bn |
The board says pay is tied most to Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations. Its other key measures: Adjusted Cumulative FCF*, Relative TSR, Return on Invested Capital* (ROIC*), Absolute TSR, Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations*.
Insiders and the CEO's stake
Light activity: no buys, $106k sold in six months. 21 of 21 sales ran on pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.
- SoldMark A Iii WelshDirector · 10b5-1 plan$106kAug 3, 2026
Leadership and governance on file
- Aug 21, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Feb 13, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Nov 6, 2025Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Feb 19, 2025Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Sep 19, 2024Leadership change8-K/A 5.02
- May 16, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- May 16, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Feb 20, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Mar 15, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Feb 17, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Nov 17, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Sep 22, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
Latest shareholder vote results: May 21, 2026, including the say-on-pay vote.
Where the money went
Over 2021–2025: $16.5bn returned to owners in buybacks and dividends, 74% of net income, and $500.0m of pay in stock.
| Fiscal year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $35.7bn | $36.6bn | $39.3bn | $41.0bn | $42.0bn |
| Net income | $7.0bn | $4.9bn | $2.1bn | $4.2bn | $4.2bn |
| Stock-based pay | $94.0m | $99.0m | $87.0m | $101.0m | $119.0m |
| Buybacks | $3.7bn | $1.5bn | $1.5bn | $2.5bn | $1.6bn |
| Dividends | $983.0m | $1.1bn | $1.1bn | $1.2bn | $1.3bn |
| Diluted shares | 161m | 156m | 152m | 147m | 144m |
Educational only, not investment advice. Figures are as filed with the SEC: pay from the proxy's pay-versus-performance table, capital allocation from 10-K XBRL data, insider trades from Form 4s over the last six months, events from the last 5 years of filings. The peer group is the one the company chose. See the method.