Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $43.80 and last traded at $43.45, with a volume of 363033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DRS. Truist Financial raised their price target on Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BTIG Research set a $49.00 price target on Leonardo DRS and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leonardo DRS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.84.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $799.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Leonardo DRS

In related news, CFO Michael Dippold sold 26,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $870,408.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 68,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,249,825.40. The trade was a 27.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $1,471,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 328,404 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 92,354 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,773 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 233.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 92.3% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS during the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS during the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS during the 1st quarter worth about $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

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.