Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Price Target Raised to $160.00

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $150.00 to $160.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on Leidos from $149.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Leidos from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. William Blair lowered Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Leidos from $191.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.69.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE:LDOS opened at $155.90 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Leidos has a 12-month low of $123.62 and a 12-month high of $202.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $140.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.65.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The aerospace company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.50. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Leidos will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total value of $279,278.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,287.36. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $203,320.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $862,260.48. The trade was a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,889 shares of company stock worth $675,786. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leidos

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Leidos by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,450,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,225,784,000 after purchasing an additional 84,003 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Leidos by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $571,216,000 after buying an additional 405,256 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Leidos by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,393,313 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $487,649,000 after buying an additional 27,410 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Leidos by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,448 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $378,942,000 after acquiring an additional 682,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 29.8% in 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 period. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.