Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT) Receives $539.93 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $539.93.

Several brokerages have recently commented on LMT. Melius downgraded shares of Lockheed Martin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Lockheed Martin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $480.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lockheed Martin from $540.00 to $535.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Lockheed Martin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Lockheed Martin from $565.00 to $515.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Harry Edward Paul III sold 707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $442.61, for a total value of $312,925.27. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,008,265.58. The trade was a 23.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr. sold 3,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $442.42, for a total transaction of $1,421,495.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $884,840. This trade represents a 61.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,133 shares of company stock valued at $3,155,916. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lockheed Martin

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Lockheed Martin by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,471,071 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,630,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,461 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,887,242 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,374,557,000 after purchasing an additional 59,597 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,260,910 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,098,667,000 after purchasing an additional 134,662 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,131,928 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,035,989,000 after purchasing an additional 318,007 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 41,104.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,991,433 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $889,593,000 after buying an additional 1,986,600 shares during the period. 74.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lockheed Martin Stock Performance

NYSE:LMT opened at $458.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.39. Lockheed Martin has a fifty-two week low of $418.88 and a fifty-two week high of $618.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.10, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $452.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $494.72.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The aerospace company reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.58 by $1.09. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 101.47%. Research analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin will post 27.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $3.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Lockheed Martin’s payout ratio is currently 59.30%.

About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Corporation, a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services worldwide. The company operates through Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space segments.