Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases New Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 369,419 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,039,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Leidos during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Leidos by 94.7% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Leidos in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 110.5% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Leidos from $152.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Leidos from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Leidos has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.93.

Leidos Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $146.34 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.52. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.86 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.35. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.81% and a net margin of 7.80%.The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Leidos announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $1,406,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Company Profile

Leidos is an American technology and engineering company that provides services and solutions to government and commercial customers, with a strong focus on national security, defense, intelligence, and civil government markets. The company delivers systems integration, engineering, cybersecurity, software development, data analytics, cloud migration and managed IT services, as well as mission support for complex programs. Leidos’ work spans areas such as C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), secure communications, sensors and systems engineering, and health IT solutions for public-sector healthcare programs.

Leidos traces its corporate roots to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and emerged as an independent, publicly traded company following a corporate separation in 2013.