CIBC Asset Management Inc Boosts Stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• CIBC Asset Management boosted its stake in Leidos by 62.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 11,772 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 30,615 shares valued at about $5.5 million.
• Institutional ownership in Leidos remains high, with major investors like State Street, Geode Capital, Van ECK, Alliancebernstein, and Norges Bank also increasing or initiating positions; hedge funds and institutions own 76.12% of the stock.
• Leidos reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.13 versus $2.88 expected and revenue of $4.40 billion, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share to be paid on June 30.

CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 62.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,615 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,772 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc's holdings in Leidos were worth $5,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Leidos by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,805,218 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,096,954,000 after acquiring an additional 78,534 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $636,097,000 after acquiring an additional 64,909 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Leidos by 6.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,411,312 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $455,642,000 after acquiring an additional 145,826 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Leidos by 26.0% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,926,646 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $364,059,000 after acquiring an additional 397,385 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter worth approximately $318,839,000. 76.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Leidos from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $187.50.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total transaction of $197,001.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE LDOS opened at $124.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $141.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.60. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.20 and a 52-week high of $205.77. The company has a market cap of $15.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.50.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Leidos's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.75%.

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.

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