Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 281,884 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 22,257 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.22% of Leidos worth $34,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Leidos during the 1st quarter valued at about $20,225,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Leidos by 169.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 144,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $22,527,000 after buying an additional 90,991 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Leidos in the second quarter worth about $1,024,436,000. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Leidos by 55.1% in the second quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 42,747 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,406,000 after acquiring an additional 15,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 9.3% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 165,512 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $17,043,000 after acquiring an additional 14,049 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $136.02 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $129.28 and a 200 day moving average of $140.48. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.86 and a 1 year high of $205.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.55.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The aerospace company reported $3.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 34,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gary May sold 1,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total transaction of $140,850.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,437,233.40. The trade was a 8.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LDOS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 target price on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, August 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.50.

Leidos Company Profile

Leidos Holdings, Inc (NYSE: LDOS) is a technology, engineering and science company that provides services and solutions to government and commercial customers. Its work supports defense, intelligence, civil government, health and transportation missions, with offerings that include information technology modernization, systems integration, cybersecurity, data analytics, artificial intelligence, engineering and mission operations.

The company also provides health technology and scientific services, transportation management systems, aviation and security solutions, and support for complex government programs.