Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $162.9333.

LDOS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a report on Sunday, August 9th. BNP Paribas Exane upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 price objective on Leidos in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 value of $1,406,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 34,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,820,980.84. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Leidos during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Leidos by 94.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Leidos in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Leidos in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 84 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS opened at $141.84 on Monday. Leidos has a 12-month low of $98.86 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The stock has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $117.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.86.

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

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Leidos announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.