Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Melius Research

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Melius Research to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on LMT. Melius upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $704.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $600.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $480.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $511.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.43.

Lockheed Martin Stock Performance

Lockheed Martin stock opened at $574.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.10, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $520.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $476.95. The company has a market capitalization of $137.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.46. Lockheed Martin has a fifty-two week low of $393.77 and a fifty-two week high of $578.73.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $7.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.45 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $18.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.05 billion. Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 95.03% and a net margin of 9.48%. Lockheed Martin’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin will post 26.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lockheed Martin news, insider Timothy S. Cahill sold 3,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $515.36, for a total transaction of $2,048,556.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,877 shares in the company, valued at $4,574,850.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,589,447 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,173,641,000 after acquiring an additional 336,588 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 1.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,942,658 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $902,714,000 after acquiring an additional 31,545 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 14.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,384,774 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $646,828,000 after acquiring an additional 180,074 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 11.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,169,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $546,144,000 after acquiring an additional 119,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 56,626.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,021,081 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $476,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Corporation, a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services worldwide. The company operates through Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space segments.