Legal & General Group Plc Sells 99,372 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Leidos stake by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 99,372 shares and leaving it with 802,864 shares valued at about $144.8 million.
• Leidos reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.13 versus $2.88 expected and revenue of $4.40 billion versus $4.28 billion expected, while also raising FY 2026 EPS guidance to $12.10-$12.50.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, and analysts remain generally positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $191.25.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 802,864 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 99,372 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.63% of Leidos worth $144,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in Leidos in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $242,464,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Leidos by 64.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $241,256,000 after purchasing an additional 598,974 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Leidos by 2,924.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 405,181 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $73,095,000 after purchasing an additional 391,784 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Leidos by 663.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 355,824 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $64,191,000 after purchasing an additional 309,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Leidos by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,433,712 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $223,731,000 after purchasing an additional 250,555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,686.75. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 49,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,855,799.28. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Leidos Price Performance

LDOS stock opened at $131.49 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.30. The company has a market capitalization of $16.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.56. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.20 and a 52-week high of $205.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.40.

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

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Leidos's dividend payout ratio is 15.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on LDOS. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $232.00 to $178.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Leidos from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Leidos has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $191.25.

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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