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

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $163.80.

LDOS has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Leidos from $160.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th.

Leidos Stock Up 2.3%

LDOS opened at $107.31 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.54. Leidos has a twelve month low of $98.86 and a twelve month high of $205.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. Leidos’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Leidos will post 12.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In related news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total transaction of $197,001.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 77.6% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Leidos by 94.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Leidos during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Leidos by 110.5% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

About Leidos

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.