Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Trading Up 2.3% Following Dividend Announcement

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) shares rose 2.3% during trading on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $638.97 and last traded at $638.19. Approximately 1,570,681 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 2,156,113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $623.58.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $3.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $13.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio is 64.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LMT has been the topic of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. DZ Bank lowered Lockheed Martin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $665.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $592.00 to $673.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lockheed Martin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lockheed Martin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $612.50.

Lockheed Martin Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $146.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.70, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $526.24 and a 200 day moving average of $487.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by ($0.53). Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 108.53% and a net margin of 6.69%.The firm had revenue of $20.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 27.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LMT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 1.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,697,527 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,048,993,000 after purchasing an additional 214,565 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,884,954 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,256,147,000 after acquiring an additional 19,459 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 3.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,384,753 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,190,493,000 after purchasing an additional 79,491 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Lockheed Martin by 4.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,196,058 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,096,294,000 after purchasing an additional 87,663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 6.6% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,022,940 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $510,662,000 after purchasing an additional 63,430 shares during the period. 74.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is a global aerospace and defense company that designs, develops and manufactures advanced technology systems for government and commercial customers. Formed through the 1995 merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and focuses on providing integrated solutions across air, space, land and sea domains. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and allied governments around the world.

Lockheed Martin’s product and service portfolio spans military aircraft, missile and fire-control systems, missile defense, space systems and satellite technologies, sensors and precision weapons.