UBS Group AG Acquires 65,907 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS – Get Rating) by 79.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 148,585 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,907 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned about 0.11% of Leidos worth $15,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Leidos by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,087,661 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,629,768,000 after purchasing an additional 236,272 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Leidos by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,137,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $364,047,000 after acquiring an additional 103,470 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Leidos by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,975,172 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $172,768,000 after acquiring an additional 124,866 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Leidos by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,899,486 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $166,149,000 after acquiring an additional 426,858 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Leidos by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,731,965 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $187,086,000 after acquiring an additional 79,899 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LDOS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, March 27th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Leidos from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Leidos from $103.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $111.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $100.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.75.

Leidos Price Performance

Shares of Leidos stock opened at $78.40 on Friday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.58 and a twelve month high of $110.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.76.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The aerospace company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.12). Leidos had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 4.60%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. Leidos’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 29.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.71, for a total value of $206,062.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $893,515.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.71, for a total value of $206,062.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $893,515.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jerald S. Howe, Jr. bought 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $80.25 per share, with a total value of $96,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,879.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

About Leidos

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Leidos Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil and health markets. It operates through the following three segments: Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment provides services, solutions, and products focusing on digital modernization, mission systems and integration, Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (“”C4ISR””) technologies and services, maritime solutions, transformative software, analytics, intelligence analysis, mission support and logistics services, weapons systems and space systems and solutions.