Man Group plc Has $9.57 Million Stock Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Man Group plc reduced its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 92,956 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 6,081 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in Leidos were worth $9,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LDOS. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Leidos during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Leidos by 94.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Leidos in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Leidos in the third quarter worth about $32,000. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Noel B. 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 sale, the director owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 price target on Leidos in a report on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.93.

Leidos Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of LDOS opened at $140.59 on Friday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.86 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.42. The stock has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.35. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.21 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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

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.