Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on LDOS. Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Argus raised shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.64.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $126.11 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $149.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.34. Leidos has a 1 year low of $121.20 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The company has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. On average, research analysts predict that Leidos will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 49,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,855,799.28. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $646,463,000 after buying an additional 4,131,706 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos in the fourth quarter valued at about $318,839,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos in the third quarter valued at about $242,464,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Leidos by 998.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,097,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $170,718,000 after buying an additional 997,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Leidos by 64.4% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $241,256,000 after buying an additional 598,974 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.