Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 69,374 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in Leidos Holdings by 6.9%, selling 69,374 shares, and now holds about 0.72% of the company.
• Leidos announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40, which will be paid on September 30th, representing a 0.9% annual yield.
• On August 5th, Leidos reported strong earnings with EPS of $3.21, exceeding expectations, and set its FY 2025 guidance between 11.150-11.450 EPS.

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 930,287 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 69,374 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.72% of Leidos worth $125,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Leidos by 3,450.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 704,106 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $95,012,000 after purchasing an additional 684,272 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Leidos by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,336,222 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $315,250,000 after purchasing an additional 536,452 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Leidos by 130.3% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 711,437 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $96,001,000 after purchasing an additional 402,454 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Leidos in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,665,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Leidos by 262.9% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 459,501 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $62,005,000 after purchasing an additional 332,882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Baird R W downgraded shares of Leidos from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $178.00 price target on shares of Leidos and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $186.00) on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $183.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregory R. Dahlberg sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.43, for a total transaction of $168,913.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,738,095.24. This represents a 4.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen Edward Hull sold 12,497 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.14, for a total transaction of $2,226,215.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,599,040.38. This represents a 32.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,975 shares of company stock valued at $4,078,740 over the last ninety days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Leidos Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of LDOS traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $178.71. 697,505 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 676,897. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.62 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $170.17 and a 200-day moving average of $152.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.71.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.58. Leidos had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 33.57%. The company had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. Leidos's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.150-11.450 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Leidos's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.12%.

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.