Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $146.08.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LDOS shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Leidos from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Leidos from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Leidos from $137.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Leidos from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th.

Leidos Price Performance

LDOS stock opened at $145.86 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $144.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.25. Leidos has a 12-month low of $87.61 and a 12-month high of $151.32. The company has a market capitalization of $19.72 billion, a PE ratio of 62.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The aerospace company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 25.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Leidos will post 8.75 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other Leidos news, insider Roy E. Stevens sold 875 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.67, for a total value of $131,836.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,929.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LDOS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Leidos in the 4th quarter valued at about $202,191,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Leidos by 9,164.4% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 578,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $62,623,000 after acquiring an additional 572,316 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 138.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 517,498 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $67,840,000 after acquiring an additional 300,486 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,660,386 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $429,501,000 after purchasing an additional 272,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Leidos by 276.5% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 304,489 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $39,915,000 after buying an additional 223,613 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Company Profile

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.