Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $187.50.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Leidos from $232.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Leidos from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,686.75. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Trading LLC grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 300.0% during the 1st quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Leidos by 124.3% during the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,042 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 2,794 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Leidos during the first quarter worth $42,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in Leidos by 0.8% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 25,432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,955,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Leidos by 5.0% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 151,463 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $23,556,000 after purchasing an additional 7,256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Price Performance

LDOS opened at $124.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.51. Leidos has a 12 month low of $121.20 and a 12 month high of $205.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.46.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Leidos will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s payout ratio is currently 15.75%.

About Leidos

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.