Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 17,803 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its Leidos stake by 38.4% in the second quarter, selling 17,803 shares and retaining 28,600 shares valued at approximately $2.95 million. Institutional investors collectively own 76.12% of the company.
• Leidos reported quarterly EPS of $3.26, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.91, while revenue rose 7.2% year over year to $4.56 billion. The company also authorized a buyback of up to 20 million shares and declared a $0.43 quarterly dividend.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating, with an average price target of $162.93 versus the reported share price of $140.59; targets range from $135 to $175 among recent research firms.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board trimmed its holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 38.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,600 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 17,803 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings in Leidos were worth $2,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Leidos in the second quarter worth approximately $1,024,436,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,022,359 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,086,434,000 after buying an additional 217,141 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $646,463,000 after buying an additional 4,131,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Leidos by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $636,097,000 after buying an additional 64,909 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Leidos by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,859,616 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $289,193,000 after buying an additional 47,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In related news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Leidos Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $140.59 on Monday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.86 and a fifty-two week high of $205.77. The stock has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $119.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.03.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.81% and a net margin of 7.80%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LDOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Leidos from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research note on Monday, August 17th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $162.93.

Leidos Company 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.

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