Keeler Thomas Management LLC Buys New Shares in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Keeler Thomas Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,337 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Leidos by 7.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,416,817 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $461,065,000 after acquiring an additional 251,245 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Leidos by 29.8% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,336,222 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $315,250,000 after acquiring an additional 536,452 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Leidos by 10.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,877,020 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $253,262,000 after acquiring an additional 170,263 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Leidos by 3.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,183,157 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $159,342,000 after acquiring an additional 34,328 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 130.3% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 711,437 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $96,001,000 after buying an additional 402,454 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LDOS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $195.00 target price on Leidos in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $186.00) on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Argus upped 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, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $188.31.

Leidos Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $189.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $185.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.44. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.62 and a 52-week high of $202.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 33.57% and a net margin of 8.22%.Leidos’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.63 earnings per share. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.150-11.450 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.12%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other Leidos news, insider Stephen Edward Hull sold 12,497 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.14, for a total transaction of $2,226,215.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,599,040.38. This trade represents a 32.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total value of $356,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,804,892.85. The trade was a 16.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,975 shares of company stock worth $4,078,740 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Leidos

Leidos Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S.