Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $179.07.

Several brokerages have recently commented on LDOS. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen lowered Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Leidos in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $182.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Activity

In other Leidos news, Director Surya N. Mohapatra sold 2,748 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.97, for a total transaction of $535,777.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,899,594.97. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,047 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.94, for a total transaction of $193,632.18. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,408 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,185,095.52. This represents a 14.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LDOS. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Leidos by 173.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,381 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 29,828 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,043 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 23.5% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 2,507 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Leidos by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,796 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Leidos by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 269,973 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $39,473,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $155.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,318,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,034,872. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $157.02 and a 200 day moving average of $158.10. Leidos has a 12-month low of $107.73 and a 12-month high of $202.90. The stock has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.66.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The aerospace company reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.97. The company had revenue of $4.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.31% and a net margin of 7.37%. Leidos's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos will post 10.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Leidos's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Leidos's dividend payout ratio is 18.22%.

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.