Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Value Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund outperformed the Russell 1000 Value Index. Its Investor Class fund ARTLX returned 7.88%, Advisor Class fund APDLX posted a return of 7.93%, and Institutional Class fund APHLX returned 8.02% in the quarter, compared to a 1.01% return for the Russell 1000 Value Index. In Q1, sector allocation and stock selection turned out to be positive. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Artisan Value Fund highlighted stocks like Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is an aerospace and defense company. On May 23, 2023, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) stock closed at $443.03 per share. One-month return of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) was -1.35%, and its shares lost 5.26% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has a market capitalization of $67.278 billion.
Artisan Value Fund made the following comment about Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), an aerospace and defense technology company, and Cigna, a managed care company, were among our biggest detractors. The market rotation theme that helped last year’s losers become Q1’s winners also applied to last year’s winners becoming Q1’s losers. Both Cigna and NOC performed well during 2022’s market downturn as investors sought safety—each gaining more than 40% during the calendar year. The war in Ukraine was an additional tailwind for NOC’s shares. We were trimming our position into that relative strength. NOC remains well positioned, in our view, for the future of military spending due to its concentration in aerospace and limited exposure to the US Army. Further, the business has high exposure to classified bookings, which we believe means NOC is addressing the next generation of threats as opposed to “fighting the last war.” NOC’s financial condition is healthy, with an investment grade balance sheet and a strong fixed charge coverage ratio. The company remains a smaller position in the portfolio.”
Photo by Thisisengineering Raeng on Unsplash
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) at the end of the first quarter 2023 which was 49 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) in another article and shared the list of most profitable value stocks. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
