Lockheed Martin Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:LMT)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 155,267 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,691% compared to the average daily volume of 8,670 call options.

Institutional Trading of Lockheed Martin

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,823 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $625,784,000 after purchasing an additional 669,604 shares in the last quarter. Tableaux LLC boosted its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 34,231.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tableaux LLC now owns 623,115 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $288,589,000 after acquiring an additional 621,300 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Lockheed Martin by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,728,551 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,770,729,000 after acquiring an additional 527,523 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Lockheed Martin during the third quarter worth about $252,699,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Lockheed Martin by 203.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 560,363 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $271,031,000 after purchasing an additional 375,622 shares during the period. 74.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LMT has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $464.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Lockheed Martin from $605.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $550.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $612.50.

Lockheed Martin Stock Performance

Shares of LMT stock traded up $17.61 on Friday, hitting $659.24. The company had a trading volume of 2,597,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,932,073. The firm has a market cap of $151.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $578.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $508.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Lockheed Martin has a twelve month low of $410.11 and a twelve month high of $669.75.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $5.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.53). The company had revenue of $20.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.84 billion. Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 108.53% and a net margin of 6.69%.The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lockheed Martin will post 27.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $3.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $13.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.22%.

Lockheed Martin News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Lockheed Martin this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Unusual call buying — Traders bought 155,267 LMT call options today (roughly a 1,691% jump versus typical daily call volume), a strongly bullish signal that likely pushed intraday prices higher.
• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven manufacturing interest — Industry research highlights growing investment in AI-driven, software-defined defense factories and notes primes like Lockheed as potential beneficiaries, supporting longer-term revenue/efficiency upside. AI-Driven Defense Manufacturing Infrastructure Report 2025-2030
• Positive Sentiment: Relative strength vs. broader market — Coverage noting LMT is outperforming the Nasdaq and that the Street remains constructive likely reinforced investor confidence and buying momentum. Is Lockheed Martin Stock Outperforming the Nasdaq?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/industry commentary on durable growth — Recent write-ups emphasize Lockheed’s predictable revenue profile and geopolitical hedge, supporting a bullish/defensive case for the stock. Lockheed Martin: Robust, Predictable Growth With Geopolitical Hedge Built In
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation/positioning view — Some analyst pieces call Lockheed operationally strong but “fully priced,” recommending a hold rather than buy, which tempers upside despite positive fundamentals. Operationally Strong, Valuation Fully Priced – Hold
• Negative Sentiment: Pentagon/Anthropic scrutiny — The Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic and requests for defense primes (including Lockheed) to report any reliance on Anthropic’s Claude model raise supply?chain/third?party AI risk concerns; this creates short?term uncertainty about contract requirements, certification, or replacement costs. Pentagon Anthropic feud has sales and AI warfare at stake Pentagon asks Boeing, Lockheed Martin about their exposure to Anthropic

About Lockheed Martin

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.