Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 31,247 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 145,467 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,247 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Leidos were worth $20,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 25,789 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,822,000 after purchasing an additional 10,926 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Leidos by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 37,448 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,395,000 after buying an additional 10,347 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Leidos by 49.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 270,052 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $38,904,000 after acquiring an additional 88,929 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 138.7% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 77,272 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,132,000 after acquiring an additional 44,896 shares during the period. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $974,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:LDOS opened at $142.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.11. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.23 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 30.93%. On average, equities 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 Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LDOS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Leidos from $191.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair downgraded Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other Leidos news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $203,320.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,260.48. The trade was a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,287.36. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently 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.