Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Upgraded at Guggenheim

Guggenheim upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on DRS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.17.

Leonardo DRS Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of DRS opened at $37.09 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $9.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.17, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.35. Leonardo DRS has a 1 year low of $32.43 and a 1 year high of $50.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.91.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.08. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 12.97% and a net margin of 8.52%.The business had revenue of $913.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $903.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. Leonardo DRS’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Leonardo DRS will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jason Rinsky sold 3,864 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.81, for a total transaction of $177,009.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,080,245.61. This represents a 14.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Michael Dippold sold 20,317 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.18, for a total value of $755,386.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,306,616.74. This trade represents a 36.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 28,046 shares of company stock valued at $1,107,751 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in Leonardo DRS by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 12,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Leonardo DRS by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Leonardo DRS by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 12,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essential Partners LLC lifted its position in Leonardo DRS by 68.7% during the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

About Leonardo DRS

Leonardo DRS, Inc is a defense technology company that develops and manufactures advanced products and systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, other government agencies and allied military customers. The company supports land, sea and air platforms as well as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Its offerings include electro-optical and infrared sensing systems, network computing and communications equipment, electronic warfare technologies, power and propulsion systems, thermal management solutions, force protection products and advanced battle-management systems.