Wall Street Zen Upgrades Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) to “Buy”

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

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on LDOS. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Leidos from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Argus upgraded Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Leidos currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.92.

Leidos Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $100.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.77. Leidos has a 1-year low of $99.53 and a 1-year high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Leidos will post 12.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Redwood Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 116.0% in the first quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 11,235 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 6,033 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Leidos by 30.5% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 567,601 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $88,273,000 after buying an additional 132,683 shares during the last quarter. DV Trading LLC boosted its stake in Leidos by 300.0% during the first quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in Leidos by 124.3% in the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,042 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 2,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Leidos in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.