Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Boosts Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 548.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,834 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 26,922 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $5,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Leidos by 77.6% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Leidos by 110.5% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Leidos during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in Leidos during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Leidos during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.64.

Leidos Price Performance

LDOS stock opened at $126.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $149.09 and a 200-day moving average of $173.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.20 and a 12 month high of $205.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.56.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. Leidos’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,855,799.28. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total transaction of $197,001.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.