6,435 Shares in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS Purchased by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,435 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Leidos in the second quarter worth about $514,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Leidos during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Leidos during the second quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Leidos in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $67,047,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Leidos in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $372,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $143.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.81. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.86 and a 52-week high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.35. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.81% and a net margin of 7.80%.The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. Analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Leidos’s payout ratio is 16.04%.

Leidos announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Leidos from $152.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Leidos from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Leidos presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the director directly owned 34,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

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.