Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Shares Climb 3.9% – What’s Next?

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) traded up 3.9% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $589.81 and last traded at $589.4750. Approximately 1,199,733 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 19% from the average daily volume of 1,473,452 shares. The stock had previously closed at $567.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $615.00 price target on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research note on Sunday, October 25th. Vertical Research raised shares of Lockheed Martin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Lockheed Martin from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Lockheed Martin in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $735.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lockheed Martin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.00.

Lockheed Martin Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $136.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $548.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $569.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The aerospace company reported $7.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.52 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.48 billion. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 8.23% and a return on equity of 83.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 30.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $3.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. This is a positive change from Lockheed Martin’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.45. This represents a $14.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,975,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $16,799,530,000 after acquiring an additional 419,582 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Lockheed Martin in the second quarter valued at approximately $9,617,574,000. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its stake in Lockheed Martin by 3,983.3% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 7,110,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,622,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,936,814 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 3,030,638 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,543,352,000 after purchasing an additional 937,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $645,258,000. Institutional investors own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

Lockheed Martin Company Profile

Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Formed in 1995 through the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company develops and produces advanced defense, aerospace, and technology systems for government and commercial customers.

Its principal business areas include Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space. Products and services include military aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II, C-130 Hercules, and F-16 Fighting Falcon; missile-defense and precision-strike systems; helicopters and naval systems; command, control, communications, and intelligence technologies; satellites; space exploration systems; and other classified space and defense programs.

Lockheed Martin serves the U.S.