Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Shares Up 1% on Analyst Upgrade

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) shares rose 1% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $600.00 to $700.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lockheed Martin traded as high as $644.25 and last traded at $643.4720. 1,551,452 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 1,467,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $636.95.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on LMT. Robert W. Baird set a $700.00 price objective on Lockheed Martin in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Lockheed Martin from $629.00 to $564.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $620.00 target price on shares of Lockheed Martin in a report on Monday, October 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $615.00 price target on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research report on Sunday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $600.00 to $570.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lockheed Martin

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Lockheed Martin by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,975,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $16,799,530,000 after acquiring an additional 419,582 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,617,574,000. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 3,983.3% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 7,110,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,622,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,936,814 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin during the 2nd quarter valued at $645,258,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Lockheed Martin in the 2nd quarter valued at $497,469,000. Institutional investors own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

Lockheed Martin Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $544.17 and its 200-day moving average is $568.87. The firm has a market cap of $148.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.09.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The aerospace company reported $7.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.52 by $0.45. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 8.23% and a return on equity of 83.41%. The firm had revenue of $20.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 30.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be issued a $3.60 dividend. This is an increase from Lockheed Martin’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.45. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $14.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.15%.

Lockheed Martin Company Profile

Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Formed in 1995 through the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company develops and produces advanced defense, aerospace, and technology systems for government and commercial customers.

Its principal business areas include Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space. Products and services include military aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II, C-130 Hercules, and F-16 Fighting Falcon; missile-defense and precision-strike systems; helicopters and naval systems; command, control, communications, and intelligence technologies; satellites; space exploration systems; and other classified space and defense programs.

Lockheed Martin serves the U.S.