Truist Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Stock

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $37.00 to $40.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Truist Financial's target price indicates a potential upside of 13.83% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leonardo DRS has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.33.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

Shares of Leonardo DRS stock traded up $0.53 on Thursday, hitting $35.14. 827,901 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 667,828. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.97. Leonardo DRS has a 1-year low of $19.88 and a 1-year high of $37.99.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Leonardo DRS will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total transaction of $120,269.43. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at $458,732.58. This represents a 20.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Pamela Morrow sold 8,854 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $290,765.36. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $569,281.40. This represents a 33.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 144,360 shares of company stock worth $4,849,137 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Leonardo DRS

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of DRS. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 183.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,661 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS during the fourth quarter worth about $24,920,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 87.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,067,630 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,495,000 after buying an additional 498,979 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Leonardo DRS by 261.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 621,506 shares of the company's stock worth $20,081,000 after acquiring an additional 449,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 142.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 522,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,895,000 after acquiring an additional 306,940 shares during the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Leonardo DRS Company Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.