Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $188.3077.

LDOS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Leidos from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th.

Leidos Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE LDOS opened at $189.38 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $185.77 and its 200 day moving average is $166.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Leidos has a 12 month low of $123.62 and a 12 month high of $202.90. The stock has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.71.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.58. Leidos had a return on equity of 33.57% and a net margin of 8.22%.The company had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.150-11.450 EPS. Research analysts predict that Leidos will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 15.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total value of $356,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,804,892.85. The trade was a 16.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen Edward Hull sold 12,497 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.14, for a total value of $2,226,215.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,599,040.38. The trade was a 32.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,975 shares of company stock valued at $4,078,740 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leidos

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Leidos by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,528,630 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $556,677,000 after purchasing an additional 111,813 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Leidos by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,909,142 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $460,203,000 after purchasing an additional 103,321 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Leidos by 29.8% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,336,222 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $315,250,000 after purchasing an additional 536,452 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Leidos by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,877,020 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $253,262,000 after purchasing an additional 170,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Leidos during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $261,501,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

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.