Lockheed Martin Stock In Spotlight After Morgan Stanley Trims Price Target To $555: Retail’s Unswayed

Shares of Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) were in the spotlight on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the stock to $555 from $599, while keeping an ‘Equal Weight’ rating on the shares.

In its 2025 outlook note for the aerospace and defense group, Morgan Stanley said the year presents "key known unknowns," which included the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency on defense and the pace at which Boeing (BA) can ramp production rates, according to The Fly.

Morgan Stanley also stated it has moved its Defense industry view to ‘In-Line’ while trimming Prime contractor price targets. The brokerage highlighted that it continues to favor commercial aftermarket names going into next year in the wake of an ongoing aircraft supply-demand imbalance.

On Thursday, retail sentiment for Lockheed Martin on Stocktwits continued to trend in the ‘bullish’ territory (56/100), albeit with a lower score. 

LMT’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 12:13 p.m. ET on Dec. 19, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits

Retail chatter, however, indicated investors held a positive view on the stock. One user even questioned the price target reduction.

Recently, Lockheed Martin announced that a new subsidiary, Astris AI, that will enable the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions across the U.S. defense industrial base and commercial industry sectors having high assurance requirements.

Astris AI provides customers access to foundational AI tools, processes and talent to enable the deployment of secure AI solutions at scale.

Lockheed said it has made significant investments in developing MLOps software capability, a generative AI platform tailored to high-assurance end users and building a robust team of AI experts.

Meanwhile, shares of Lockheed Martin gained over 5% since the beginning of the year.

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