Baird Financial Group Inc. Purchases 43,490 Shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Free Report) by 47.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,385 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 43,490 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.05% of Leonardo DRS worth $4,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Leonardo DRS by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,934,919 shares of the company's stock valued at $256,377,000 after purchasing an additional 263,002 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Leonardo DRS by 183.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,715,000 after buying an additional 2,236,661 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,594,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,505,000 after acquiring an additional 278,541 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,432,110 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,274,000 after acquiring an additional 166,936 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,301,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,066,000 after acquiring an additional 62,395 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 18.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Leonardo DRS

In other news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $1,471,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 328,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,738,810.80. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sally Wallace sold 8,353 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $274,312.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,160 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,811,454.40. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,354 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,773. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

NASDAQ:DRS traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $40.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,059,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,084. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a one year low of $22.71 and a one year high of $43.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $799.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Leonardo DRS's payout ratio is presently 41.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on DRS. BTIG Research set a $49.00 price objective on Leonardo DRS and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS 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.