Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Receives $205.42 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $205.4167.

Several brokerages have issued reports on LDOS. Wall Street Zen downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $218.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Leidos from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total transaction of $543,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,526,738. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Leidos in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Leidos in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Leidos in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Leidos in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Leidos by 471.4% in the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Trading Up 1.0%

Leidos stock opened at $197.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.62. Leidos has a 52 week low of $123.62 and a 52 week high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.44. Leidos had a return on equity of 33.02% and a net margin of 8.11%.The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. Analysts expect that Leidos will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Leidos Company Profile

Leidos is an American technology and engineering company that provides services and solutions to government and commercial customers, with a strong focus on national security, defense, intelligence, and civil government markets. The company delivers systems integration, engineering, cybersecurity, software development, data analytics, cloud migration and managed IT services, as well as mission support for complex programs. Leidos’ work spans areas such as C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), secure communications, sensors and systems engineering, and health IT solutions for public-sector healthcare programs.

Leidos traces its corporate roots to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and emerged as an independent, publicly traded company following a corporate separation in 2013.