Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Stock

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $34.00 to $44.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on DRS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Leonardo DRS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS Stock Up 0.6 %

DRS stock opened at $41.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.93, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. Leonardo DRS has a 1-year low of $21.98 and a 1-year high of $42.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business had revenue of $799.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $736.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Leonardo DRS will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total transaction of $112,786.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 137,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,387,564.68. The trade was a 2.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $1,471,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 328,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,738,810.80. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 99,360 shares of company stock worth $3,262,887. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leonardo DRS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Leonardo DRS by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,934,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,377,000 after buying an additional 263,002 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 183.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,661 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,594,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,505,000 after acquiring an additional 278,541 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,432,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,274,000 after purchasing an additional 166,936 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,301,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,066,000 after purchasing an additional 62,395 shares during the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Leonardo DRS

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.