Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its stake in Leidos by 0.4% in Q4, selling 59,814 shares and leaving it with 14,942,734 shares (11.69% ownership) valued at about $2.70 billion.
• Insider sale: Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares on April 7 under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing her holding by 3.89%; corporate insiders own 0.77% of the stock.
• Analyst outlook and results: Leidos has a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $202.82 target after a quarterly earnings beat and FY2026 EPS guidance of $12.05–$12.45; the company trades at a P/E of 13.14 with a market cap around $18.4 billion.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,942,734 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 59,814 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.69% of Leidos worth $2,695,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Leidos in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,573,000. Directional Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Leidos in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,467,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Leidos by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Leidos by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 469 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its holdings in Leidos by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 12,934 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $2,333,000 after buying an additional 1,547 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. This represents a 3.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LDOS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $204.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 price target on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Leidos to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.82.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of Leidos stock opened at $146.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock's fifty day moving average is $163.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.83. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.69 and a 52 week high of $205.77. The company has a market capitalization of $18.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.65.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The aerospace company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 32.95% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.37 earnings per share. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.050-12.450 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Leidos's payout ratio is 15.45%.

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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