Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Trading 2.3% Higher After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) traded up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $638.97 and last traded at $638.19. 1,570,681 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session 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. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Lockheed Martin’s payout ratio is 64.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $654.00 price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Lockheed Martin from $540.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $492.00 to $611.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Lockheed Martin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $600.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lockheed Martin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $612.50.

Lockheed Martin Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $526.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $487.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05.

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

Institutional Trading of Lockheed Martin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 29,639 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $14,796,000 after buying an additional 3,031 shares in the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lockheed Martin during the third quarter worth about $3,075,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Lockheed Martin by 22.4% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 25,423 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $12,688,000 after acquiring an additional 4,652 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 29.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,036 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,010,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 482.6% in the 2nd quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 6,979 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,232,000 after purchasing an additional 5,781 shares in the last quarter. 74.19% of the stock is currently 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.