Elizabeth Porter Sells 3,000 Shares of Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Stock

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) insider Elizabeth Porter sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.21, for a total transaction of $576,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 38,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,414,500.75. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Leidos Price Performance

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $191.07 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.69. The company has a market capitalization of $24.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.58. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.62 and a twelve month high of $205.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 33.02%. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Leidos by 46.5% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 46.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 49,812 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,197,000 after purchasing an additional 15,705 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Leidos by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,524 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Leidos by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 15,172 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,394,000 after buying an additional 6,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Leidos by 30.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,251 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $204.00 target price on Leidos in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.09.

Leidos Company Profile

Leidos is an American technology and engineering company that provides services and solutions to government and commercial customers, with a strong focus on national security, defense, intelligence, and civil government markets. The company delivers systems integration, engineering, cybersecurity, software development, data analytics, cloud migration and managed IT services, as well as mission support for complex programs. Leidos’ work spans areas such as C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), secure communications, sensors and systems engineering, and health IT solutions for public-sector healthcare programs.

Leidos traces its corporate roots to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and emerged as an independent, publicly traded company following a corporate separation in 2013.