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

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $213.2727.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Leidos from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Leidos from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.21, for a total transaction of $576,630.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 38,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,414,500.75. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LDOS. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 94.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Leidos in the third quarter valued at $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Leidos by 77.6% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Leidos during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Leidos by 110.5% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Leidos Stock Down 1.6%

LDOS opened at $173.48 on Monday. Leidos has a 1 year low of $123.62 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $186.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.59.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The aerospace company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.19. Leidos had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 32.95%. The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.37 earnings per share. Leidos’s revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.050-12.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Leidos will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.45%.

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.