Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

Key Points

• ING Groep NV significantly reduced its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. by 85.7% in the first quarter, resulting in ownership of only 16,749 shares valued at approximately $2.26 million.
• Leidos recently reported a 3.21 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, and achieved quarterly revenues of $4.25 billion, reflecting a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.9%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.9%, set to be paid on September 30th to investors of record on September 15th.

ING Groep NV cut its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 85.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,749 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 100,293 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in Leidos were worth $2,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Leidos during the first quarter worth $267,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Leidos by 35.0% in the 4th 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. lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,841 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,418 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Leidos by 263.7% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,706 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,849,000 after purchasing an additional 9,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Leidos by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 437,535 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $63,026,000 after purchasing an additional 4,903 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LDOS. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Leidos from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Leidos from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.43.

Leidos Stock Performance

LDOS stock traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $175.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,134,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 837,930. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $157.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.99. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.62 and a 52-week high of $202.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $22.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.65.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.58. Leidos had a return on equity of 33.57% and a net margin of 8.22%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.63 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Leidos's dividend payout ratio is 16.10%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In related news, Director Gregory R. Dahlberg sold 1,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.55, for a total transaction of $193,187.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,121,137.25. This trade represents a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Leidos Profile

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.