Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 78,638 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,859,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. owned 0.06% of Leidos as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Leidos by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,528,630 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $556,677,000 after acquiring an additional 111,813 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 3.7% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,909,142 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $460,203,000 after purchasing an additional 103,321 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,221,518 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $419,778,000 after purchasing an additional 39,378 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Leidos in the second quarter worth approximately $261,501,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Leidos by 64.4% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $241,256,000 after purchasing an additional 598,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE LDOS opened at $191.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.58. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.62 and a 1-year high of $205.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $188.91 and a 200-day moving average of $183.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted 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 business had revenue of $4.47 billion for 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on LDOS shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Leidos from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $213.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,526,738. This represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Leidos

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.