Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Price Target to $180.00

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) had its price objective decreased by Royal Bank Of Canada from $215.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on LDOS. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 price target on Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group set a $204.00 price objective on Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Argus raised shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.64.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $130.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.56. Leidos has a one year low of $127.86 and a one year high of $205.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $160.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.21.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. Leidos’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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Leidos will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.75%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Leidos by 46.5% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Leidos by 86.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,248,000 after acquiring an additional 6,600 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 2.7% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 20.2% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,405 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,532,000 after acquiring an additional 6,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 222.3% in the second quarter. Natixis now owns 8,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 5,625 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.