VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases 25,000 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 13.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 210,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Leidos were worth $39,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in Leidos in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Leidos during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in Leidos by 471.4% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. boosted its position in Leidos by 66.2% during the second quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. now owns 216 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 50.0% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 228 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Down 1.2%

LDOS opened at $183.19 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.42. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.62 and a 52 week high of $205.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.58.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.44. Leidos had a return on equity of 33.02% and a net margin of 8.11%.The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Leidos’s payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total transaction of $543,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,575 shares in the company, valued at $7,526,738. This trade represents a 6.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LDOS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Leidos from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Leidos from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on Leidos from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.42.

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.