QRG Capital Management Inc. Sells 70,342 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

QRG Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 78.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,696 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 70,342 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $3,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Rather & Kittrell Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos during the third quarter worth $205,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Leidos by 49.0% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 456 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Leidos during the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Leidos by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 23,451 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,431,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 793.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 19,049 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,590,000 after purchasing an additional 16,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $194.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.98. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.62 and a 12 month high of $205.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.58.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 33.02%. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. Analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total value of $543,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,575 shares in the company, valued at $7,526,738. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LDOS. UBS Group set a $204.00 price target on Leidos in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.09.

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.