Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $177.9167.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Argus upgraded Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $101.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a PE ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $160.54. Leidos has a 12-month low of $99.53 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts forecast that Leidos will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 46.5% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 86.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,248,000 after buying an additional 6,600 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,405 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,532,000 after buying an additional 6,962 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 222.3% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 8,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 5,625 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.12% 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.