Pacer Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors reduced its stake in Leidos by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 69,681 shares and leaving it with 434,918 shares worth about $78.5 million.
• Several other institutional investors adjusted positions in LDOS, and 76.12% of the stock is now owned by institutions, underscoring heavy institutional interest in the name.
• Leidos recently reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share to be paid on June 30.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 434,918 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 69,681 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.34% of Leidos worth $78,459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,022,359 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,086,434,000 after purchasing an additional 217,141 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Leidos by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $636,097,000 after purchasing an additional 64,909 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Leidos by 6.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,411,312 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $455,642,000 after purchasing an additional 145,826 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Leidos by 26.0% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,926,646 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $364,059,000 after purchasing an additional 397,385 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Leidos during the fourth quarter valued at about $318,839,000. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on LDOS. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Argus upgraded Leidos to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $185.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $177.92.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE:LDOS opened at $107.16 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $134.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $163.92. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.08 and a 52 week high of $205.77. The stock has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.40 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Leidos's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.75%.

Leidos Company 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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