LMT Stock Spirals Amid CEO Resignation

Lockheed Martin's CEO Marillyn Hewson just announced her resignation

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) is down 5.6% to trade at $310.44amid news that the security and aerospace company's CEO, Marillyn Hewson, will be stepping down on June 15, replaced by tapped board member and American Tower Corp leader James Taiclet. Robert Stallard of Vertical Research chimed in saying that with Hewson acting as Chairman, the brokerage firm did no foresee any "revolutionary changes."

Since its all-time peak of $442.53 LMT has taken a nosedive down the charts, off roughly 30% from its record highs, made worse by a recent bear gap breaching the 320-day moving average. Plus, today's plummet puts the stock at a new annual low.

Despite this, analysts sentiment remains optimistic, with six out of 10 sporting a "strong buy" rating. Plus, the 12-month consensus price target of $456 represents an area untouched by the equity, and sits at a 51% premium to current levels.

Shorts are jumping ship, though it's likely many of these bears are in profit-taking mode, with short interest down 8.1% in the last reporting period, leaving 3.52 million shares accounting for only 1.3% of the stock's available float. It's also worth noting that LMT is on the short-sale restricted (SSR) list today.

In the options pits, puts are being favored, per LMT's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.78 at the the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits higher than 87% of readings from the past year. This suggests that long puts are being picked up at a much quicker-than-usual clip.