Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Leidos beat Q1 expectations with $3.13 EPS (consensus $2.88) and $4.40B revenue (consensus $4.28B), and management raised FY2026 EPS guidance to $12.10–$12.50.
• Principal Financial Group trimmed its Leidos stake by 2% (sold 11,780 shares) and insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan, with recent institutional flows and insider sales heightening near‑term volatility.
• Analysts have pared price targets but the consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average target of $198.55; nevertheless margin pressure and roughly $39M of acquisition‑related costs helped trigger a sell‑the‑news reaction as the stock trades near $135.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 581,675 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 11,780 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.45% of Leidos worth $104,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Leidos during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 77.6% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 110.5% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $204.00 price objective on Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,855,799.28. This represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Leidos Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $135.03 on Thursday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.35 and a twelve month high of $205.77. The stock has a market cap of $17.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $161.00 and a 200 day moving average of $178.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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

Key Stories Impacting Leidos

Here are the key news stories impacting Leidos this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat estimates and management raised full-year guidance — Leidos reported $3.13 EPS on $4.4B revenue (both above consensus), non‑GAAP EPS up year‑over‑year, backlog strength and raised FY2026 revenue/EPS guidance. This supports longer‑term revenue visibility. Leidos Posts Strong First Quarter Results and Raises Full-Year Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Management struck a confident tone on the earnings call and highlighted demand in intelligence, energy and ATC that supports backlog growth — investors looking for secular defense/IT tailwinds may view this favorably. Leidos Holdings Earnings Call Signals Confident Outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts trimmed price targets but still show significant upside — Stifel cut its target to $193 (hold) and RBC trimmed to $180 while maintaining an outperform stance; the revisions moderate sentiment but leaves upside per those models. Stifel Nicolaus price target change (Benzinga) RBC price target change (TickerReport)
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability and acquisition-related costs raised concern — GAAP net income and EPS declined year‑over‑year; management disclosed ~$39M of Entrust-related costs and indicated the guidance lift was largely acquisition‑driven rather than organic margin improvement. These points drove a sell‑the‑news reaction and earlier sharp intraday weakness. Leidos falls as investors parse Q1 margin pressure (QuiverQuant)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and institutional positioning notes add caution — recent insider sales and mixed hedge‑fund/institutional flows highlighted by analytics providers can heighten near‑term volatility. Insider & institutional activity (QuiverQuant)

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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