Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $193.6364.

Several equities analysts have commented on LDOS shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Leidos from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st.

Leidos Stock Performance

Leidos stock opened at $124.24 on Friday. Leidos has a fifty-two week low of $121.53 and a fifty-two week high of $205.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.56.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 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 company had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts expect that Leidos will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.75%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 49,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leidos

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LDOS. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Leidos by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,171 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1.0% during the third quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 0.7% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 8,243 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,558,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Leidos by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 492 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Leidos by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 517 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 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.