Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Shares Down 1.2% – Time to Sell?

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)’s share price traded down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $626.51 and last traded at $630.34. 1,211,128 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 2,135,633 shares. The stock had previously closed at $638.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LMT. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lockheed Martin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Morgan Stanley set a $675.00 price target on Lockheed Martin in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $464.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $580.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $612.50.

Lockheed Martin Trading Down 1.2%

The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $530.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $488.63. The company has a market cap of $145.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.23.

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

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LMT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $10,048,993,000 after purchasing an additional 214,565 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 19,459 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,384,753 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,190,493,000 after acquiring an additional 79,491 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Lockheed Martin by 4.2% during 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, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in 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 worth $510,662,000 after purchasing an additional 63,430 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.