Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Shares Up 2.3% – Time to Buy?

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)’s share price was up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $624.09 and last traded at $623.25. Approximately 1,089,305 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 2,185,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $609.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LMT. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $540.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $654.00 price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin in a report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $580.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Lockheed Martin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $665.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $612.50.

Lockheed Martin Stock Up 2.3%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $522.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $484.97. The firm has a market cap of $143.40 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 27.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lockheed Martin

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

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.