Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Sells 19,594 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec cut its Leidos stake by 71.7% in the second quarter, selling 19,594 shares and retaining 7,734 shares worth about $796,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of Leidos.
• Analysts maintain a cautious outlook, with Leidos carrying a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $162.93. One director also sold 10,000 shares, reducing his position by 22.59%.
• Leidos exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $3.26 in EPS and $4.56 billion in revenue, while authorizing a 20 million-share buyback and declaring a $0.43 quarterly dividend.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec cut its holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 71.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,734 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 19,594 shares during the quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec's holdings in Leidos were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Leidos during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,617,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 47.5% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 415,545 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $42,411,000 after purchasing an additional 133,836 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 28.5% during the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 39,808 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,099,000 after purchasing an additional 8,818 shares during the last quarter. Kendall Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 36.5% in the second quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 10,565 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 2,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its position in Leidos by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,721 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In other news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $1,406,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on LDOS shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $125.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 price target on Leidos in a report on Monday, August 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Leidos from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Leidos currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $162.93.

Leidos Stock Performance

LDOS stock opened at $140.59 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average is $119.90 and its 200-day moving average is $139.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.52. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.86 and a twelve month high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.35. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.81% and a net margin of 7.80%.The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.21 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 EPS for the current year.

Leidos declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Leidos's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Leidos Profile

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.

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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source