Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Buys 2,913 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,612 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 2,913 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $3,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Leidos by 2.7% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,203 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 2,974 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 1,639 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its holdings in Leidos by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,503 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Leidos by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,627 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

NYSE LDOS opened at $194.63 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.62 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.58.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.44. Leidos had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 33.02%. The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. Analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This is an increase from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Leidos’s payout ratio is 16.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LDOS. Zacks Research lowered shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group set a $204.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research note on Thursday. Argus increased their target price on Leidos from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total transaction of $543,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,526,738. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.