BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,948,879 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $1,024,436,000. BlackRock Inc. owned 7.91% of Leidos at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Leidos during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Leidos by 94.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Leidos during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Leidos during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Leidos by 110.5% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LDOS. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 target price on Leidos in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $162.93.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Leidos
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Leidos 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 transaction of $1,406,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,274 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Leidos Stock Performance
NYSE:LDOS opened at $141.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.60. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.86 and a 12 month high of $205.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.52. The business's fifty day moving average price is $117.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.19.
Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business posted $3.21 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Leidos Announces Dividend
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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Leidos's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.
Leidos declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Leidos Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LDOS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report).
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