Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 177,365 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $18,263,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.14% of Leidos as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos in the second quarter worth $1,024,436,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Leidos by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,022,359 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,086,434,000 after buying an additional 217,141 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Leidos by 16,475.4% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $646,463,000 after buying an additional 4,131,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Leidos by 1.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Leidos by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,859,616 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $289,193,000 after acquiring an additional 47,542 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 34,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS opened at $139.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.52. The company's fifty day moving average is $119.23 and its 200-day moving average is $139.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.86 and a 12 month high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 7.80% and a return on equity of 30.81%. Leidos's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, July 31st that authorizes the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on LDOS. Citigroup lifted their target price on Leidos from $138.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $162.93.

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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