Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Shares Down 1.7% – Should You Sell?

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)’s stock price dropped 1.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $622.37 and last traded at $626.6440. Approximately 6,462,071 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 231% from the average daily volume of 1,950,414 shares. The stock had previously closed at $637.51.

Lockheed Martin News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Lockheed Martin this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Pentagon seeks a large supplemental (~$200B) tied to the Iran conflict, which would boost defense procurement and is broadly supportive for prime contractors like Lockheed. Pentagon Seeks $200 Billion for Iran War
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary point to a missile-defense/missile-replenishment “supercycle” from geopolitical conflicts that would lift demand for Lockheed’s THAAD, PAC-3 and related systems. The Shahed Drone War Is Creating A Missile Defense Supercycle
• Positive Sentiment: Lockheed awarded a contract to integrate Fortem Technologies’ counter-drone sensors and interceptors with its C-UAS software—adds to revenue mix in airspace security. Lockheed Martin Selects Fortem Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: Susquehanna published a bullish price-appreciation forecast for LMT, reflecting optimistic analyst sentiment that can support buying interest. Susquehanna Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Lockheed Martin
• Positive Sentiment: Greece’s “Achilles Shield” air-defense plan cleared a hurdle and includes Lockheed equipment, adding international order potential (though analysts say it’s not transformational alone). What Is the “Achilles Shield” and How Is Lockheed Martin Involved?
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks pieces show elevated retail/investor attention and compare LMT vs. Northrop (NOC) as both benefit from rising defense demand—useful context but not an immediate catalyst. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Lockheed Martin Is Trending
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports on the Army’s Dark Eagle hypersonic program note “weeks away” deployment but flag testing and data shortcomings—potential revenue upside if deployed, but execution risk remains. Army Says Dark Eagle Hypersonic Deployment Is Weeks Away
• Negative Sentiment: Lockheed’s latest quarterly EPS missed estimates (reported Jan 29), which combined with profit-taking and a high P/E can pressure the stock despite revenue growth and backlog strength.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LMT. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $464.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $654.00 target price on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Lockheed Martin from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $623.16.

Lockheed Martin Trading Down 1.7%

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $626.73 and its 200-day moving average is $529.93. 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 firm has a market cap of $144.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.22.

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 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 business had revenue of $20.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 27.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $3.45 dividend. This represents a $13.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lockheed Martin

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,823 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $625,784,000 after acquiring an additional 669,604 shares during the last quarter. Tableaux LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 34,231.4% in the second quarter. Tableaux LLC now owns 623,115 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $288,589,000 after purchasing an additional 621,300 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin during the third quarter valued at about $252,699,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 203.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 560,363 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $271,031,000 after purchasing an additional 375,622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

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.