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

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $205.4167.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus lifted their target price on Leidos from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Leidos in a report on Thursday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $218.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total transaction of $543,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,526,738. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 33.5% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,568 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Leidos by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 88,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $12,404,000 after buying an additional 14,246 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Leidos by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,753 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,340,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Leidos during the first quarter worth about $4,565,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Leidos by 60.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 365,331 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $49,298,000 after acquiring an additional 138,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Leidos stock opened at $183.48 on Friday. Leidos has a 12-month low of $123.62 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

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

Leidos Increases Dividend

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

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.