Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on LDOS. UBS Group set a $204.00 target price on shares of Leidos in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Bank of America upped their target price on Leidos from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.09.

Leidos Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $188.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $188.94 and its 200 day moving average is $184.56. 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 has a 1 year low of $123.62 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.58.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Leidos will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.21, for a total transaction of $576,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 38,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,414,500.75. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Leidos during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Leidos by 77.6% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Leidos during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

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.