Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $180.69.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. William Blair lowered Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Leidos from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Leidos from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Leidos from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Gregory R. Dahlberg sold 1,250 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.55, for a total value of $193,187.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,121,137.25. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,450,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,225,784,000 after buying an additional 84,003 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Leidos by 13.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $571,216,000 after purchasing an additional 405,256 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Leidos by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,393,313 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $487,649,000 after purchasing an additional 27,410 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Leidos by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,448 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $378,942,000 after purchasing an additional 682,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Leidos by 29.8% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,336,222 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $315,250,000 after purchasing an additional 536,452 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE:LDOS opened at $152.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.93. The stock has a market cap of $19.64 billion, a PE ratio of 16.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.65. Leidos has a 52 week low of $123.62 and a 52 week high of $202.90.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The aerospace company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Leidos will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.10%.

About Leidos

Leidos Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S.