Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 14,743 Shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 118,777 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,743 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $3,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRS. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 18,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,112,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 183.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,661 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 4,298 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 23,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 9,464 shares in the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Leonardo DRS

In other news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total value of $112,786.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 137,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,387,564.68. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total value of $1,586,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 189,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,695,279.25. This trade represents a 19.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 144,360 shares of company stock valued at $4,849,137. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on DRS shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.33.

Leonardo DRS Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DRS opened at $35.14 on Wednesday. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.88 and a 1 year high of $37.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.98.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. The company had revenue of $981.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $942.18 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The business 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 1.02%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS 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.