By Ben Glickman


Northrop Grumman has entered into a $1 billion accelerated share buyback agreement with Morgan Stanley & Co.

The Falls Church, Va.-based defense contractor said it expected to receive about 1.8 million shares on Jan. 31, which represents about 80% of the buybacks under the repurchase deal based on the Jan. 29 closing price.

The agreement will be completed under Northrop Grumman's current share buyback authorization, which has about $3.6 billion remaining.

Northrop Grumman said it expected the buybacks to be completed no later than the second quarter.

The company said it has set the target of returning "well over 100%" of free cash flow to stockholders this year.

In early December, Northrop Grumman authorized an additional $2.5 billion for repurchasing stock, bringing the total authorization at the time to $3.8 billion.


Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-29-24 1850ET