Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $612.50.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LMT shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $592.00 to $673.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Lockheed Martin from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $515.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lockheed Martin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LMT. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $665,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 1,735 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,264 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 484 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 2,515 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

Lockheed Martin Price Performance

Shares of LMT opened at $637.25 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $146.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $541.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $492.08. Lockheed Martin has a 1-year low of $410.11 and a 1-year high of $646.59.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.53). Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 6.69% and a return on equity of 108.53%. The business had revenue of $20.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin will post 27.15 EPS for the current year.

Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.45 per share. This represents a $13.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.22%.

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.