Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 6,905 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. by 18.4%, selling 6,905 shares and holding 30,543 shares valued at $4,121,000.
• Leidos recently reported earnings of $2.97 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, with quarterly revenue of $4.25 billion, a 6.8% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, which will be paid on September 30, representing a 1.0% yield annually.

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,543 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 6,905 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Leidos were worth $4,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Leidos in the first quarter worth about $267,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,448 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $378,942,000 after acquiring an additional 682,532 shares in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,841 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,418 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 263.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,706 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,849,000 after acquiring an additional 9,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 437,535 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $63,026,000 after acquiring an additional 4,903 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Leidos from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Leidos from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird cut Leidos from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $163.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $178.00 price target on Leidos and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $175.15.

Leidos Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LDOS traded up $11.88 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.83. 2,215,574 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 730,049. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.62 and a twelve month high of $202.90. The company has a market cap of $22.25 billion, a PE ratio of 17.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $155.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.48.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.24 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 7.87%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Leidos's payout ratio is currently 16.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregory R. Dahlberg sold 1,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.55, for a total value of $193,187.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,121,137.25. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Leidos

Leidos Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S.