Insider Selling: Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Director Sells $1,406,600.00 in Stock

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Director Noel Geer sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $1,406,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,820,980.84. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Leidos Trading Up 1.7%

LDOS traded up $2.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $142.70. 1,652,860 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,344,383. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $114.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.09. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.86 and a 1-year high of $205.77. The company has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.81% and a net margin of 7.80%.Leidos’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LDOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Leidos from $152.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Leidos from $138.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.27.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Leidos in the second quarter worth approximately $1,024,436,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Leidos by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,022,359 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,086,434,000 after purchasing an additional 217,141 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $646,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,488 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $636,097,000 after purchasing an additional 64,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,859,616 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $289,193,000 after purchasing an additional 47,542 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.