Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT) Plans $3.15 Quarterly Dividend

Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of 3.15 per share by the aerospace company on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $12.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%.

Lockheed Martin has raised its dividend by an average of 7.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Lockheed Martin has a dividend payout ratio of 45.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lockheed Martin to earn $28.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $12.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.5%.

Lockheed Martin Price Performance

Shares of Lockheed Martin stock traded up $1.65 on Thursday, hitting $463.38. 1,011,364 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,156,064. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.30. Lockheed Martin has a 52 week low of $393.77 and a 52 week high of $479.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $446.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $445.10.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $6.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.80 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $17.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.04 billion. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 9.73% and a return on equity of 85.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Lockheed Martin will post 26.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lockheed Martin news, SVP Maryanne Lavan sold 4,022 shares of Lockheed Martin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.39, for a total transaction of $1,747,116.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Maryanne Lavan sold 4,022 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.39, for a total transaction of $1,747,116.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John Frank A. St sold 6,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.35, for a total transaction of $2,827,726.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,874 shares of company stock valued at $7,249,946 over the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LMT shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $513.00 to $503.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lockheed Martin from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $540.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $508.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $380.00 to $377.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $485.40.

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.