D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Buys New Position in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company's stock worth $23,809,000 after acquiring an additional 179,224 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 32,647 shares of the company's stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 7,728 shares during the period. Illumine Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the 4th quarter worth $1,784,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the 4th quarter worth $503,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,934,919 shares of the company's stock worth $256,377,000 after buying an additional 263,002 shares during the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Leonardo DRS Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Leonardo DRS stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,069,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,947. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.83. The company has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a PE ratio of 53.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.73 and a 52 week high of $43.40.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $799.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. Leonardo DRS's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Leonardo DRS's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DRS. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised shares of Leonardo DRS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leonardo DRS has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leonardo DRS

In other news, SVP Pamela Morrow sold 8,854 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $290,765.36. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,335 shares in the company, valued at $569,281.40. The trade was a 33.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $1,471,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 328,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,738,810.80. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,354 shares of company stock worth $3,019,773. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Leonardo DRS Profile

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.