Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Stock Price Down 3.1% – Should You Sell?

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)’s share price traded down 3.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $593.88 and last traded at $596.9730. 1,845,486 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 1,879,029 shares. The stock had previously closed at $615.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $540.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $464.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $675.00 price objective on Lockheed Martin in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $623.16.

Lockheed Martin Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $137.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $633.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $537.84.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $5.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $19.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.67 EPS. Lockheed Martin’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 27.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $3.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $13.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Lockheed Martin by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,638,936 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,178,399,000 after purchasing an additional 114,900 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,728,551 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,770,729,000 after purchasing an additional 527,523 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 3.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,384,753 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,190,493,000 after purchasing an additional 79,491 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 4.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,196,058 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,096,294,000 after purchasing an additional 87,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Lockheed Martin by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,670,284 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $807,866,000 after buying an additional 10,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

Lockheed Martin Company Profile

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.