Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $2.66 Million Investment in Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,464 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $2,655,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LMT. KKM Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 5,354 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,602,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 1,367 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 35,884 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $17,437,000 after buying an additional 3,604 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 109,784 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $55,267,000 after buying an additional 5,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 4,925 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,393,000 after buying an additional 1,272 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LMT. Baird R W raised Lockheed Martin from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Melius Research downgraded shares of Lockheed Martin from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $481.00 to $499.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Lockheed Martin from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $550.00 to $480.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lockheed Martin from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $575.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lockheed Martin presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $541.80.

Lockheed Martin Price Performance

LMT stock opened at $459.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $462.06 and a 200-day moving average of $481.44. Lockheed Martin Co. has a 12-month low of $418.88 and a 12-month high of $618.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.10. The company has a market cap of $107.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.29.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The aerospace company reported $7.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.34 by $0.94. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 101.47%. The company had revenue of $17.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.83 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lockheed Martin Co. will post 27.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $3.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Lockheed Martin's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr. sold 3,213 shares of Lockheed Martin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $442.42, for a total transaction of $1,421,495.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $884,840. The trade was a 61.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Harry Edward Paul III sold 707 shares of Lockheed Martin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $442.61, for a total transaction of $312,925.27. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,278 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,008,265.58. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,133 shares of company stock worth $3,155,916 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% 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.

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