LPL Financial LLC Acquires 7,956 Shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 85,423 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,956 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $2,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 233.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Leonardo DRS by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Longboard Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS during the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the 4th quarter valued at $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

Leonardo DRS Stock Up 3.4 %

DRS stock opened at $35.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.88 and a twelve month high of $37.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. Analysts anticipate that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Leonardo DRS’s payout ratio is 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.83.

Insider Activity at Leonardo DRS

In other Leonardo DRS news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.81, for a total value of $122,844.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 74,805 shares in the company, valued at $2,603,962.05. The trade was a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $1,586,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 189,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,695,279.25. This represents a 19.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 144,360 shares of company stock worth $4,849,137. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Leonardo DRS Company Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.