Driehaus Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Free Report) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,920,298 shares of the company's stock after selling 234,250 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned 0.73% of Leonardo DRS worth $62,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,809,000 after buying an additional 179,224 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 32,647 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 7,728 shares during the last quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter valued at $1,784,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 16.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,239,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,934,919 shares of the company's stock worth $256,377,000 after acquiring an additional 263,002 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Leonardo DRS Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of DRS traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $40.84. The stock had a trading volume of 1,686,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 704,128. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.64 and a 1-year high of $43.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $34.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.95. The company has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.70, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $799.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. Leonardo DRS's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Leonardo DRS's payout ratio is 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other Leonardo DRS news, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total transaction of $120,269.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,732.58. The trade was a 20.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total transaction of $112,786.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 137,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,387,564.68. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,831 shares of company stock valued at $3,140,043 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

About Leonardo DRS

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.