Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,152 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $2,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Leidos in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Leidos by 143.1% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 265 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Leidos during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LDOS shares. StockNews.com cut Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $200.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total value of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,287.36. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $132.75 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $140.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.17. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.22 and a 1-year high of $202.90. The company has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. On average, research analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Leidos’s payout ratio is 17.32%.

Leidos Profile

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.