Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $214.1818.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LDOS shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Leidos from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 38,575 shares in the company, valued at $7,414,500.75. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

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

Leidos Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:LDOS opened at $165.94 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $181.65 and its 200-day moving average is $185.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Leidos has a 12 month low of $128.32 and a 12 month high of $205.77. The firm has a market cap of $20.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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