Virtus Advisers LLC Invests $717,000 in Leonardo DRS, Inc. $DRS

Key Points

• Virtus Advisers LLC has acquired a new stake in Leonardo DRS, purchasing 21,811 shares valued at approximately $717,000, making it the firm's 24th largest holding.
• Leonardo DRS reported earnings of $0.23 per share, beating estimates, with revenues of $829 million for the quarter, indicating a year-over-year growth of 10.1%.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 0.9%.

Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 21,811 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $717,000. Leonardo DRS comprises approximately 0.9% of Virtus Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 6.6% during the first quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 90,903 shares of the company's stock worth $2,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,659 shares during the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 225.1% during the first quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 52,549 shares of the company's stock worth $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 36,386 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Leonardo DRS during the first quarter worth $970,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 396.6% during the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,047 shares of the company's stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 5,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Leonardo DRS during the first quarter worth $3,882,000. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Leonardo DRS in a research note on Monday, August 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Leonardo DRS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Leonardo DRS in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on Leonardo DRS from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Leonardo DRS from $33.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leonardo DRS has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.75.

Leonardo DRS Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ DRS traded down $0.81 on Friday, reaching $41.66. The company had a trading volume of 910,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,067,201. The firm has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.00 and a fifty-two week high of $49.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $44.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.34.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $829.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $824.50 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 11.02% and a net margin of 7.31%.Leonardo DRS's revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. Leonardo DRS has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.060-1.110 EPS. Analysts forecast that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Leonardo DRS's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John Baylouny sold 11,375 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.17, for a total transaction of $468,308.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 125,908 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,183,632.36. This trade represents a 8.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David W. Carey sold 6,438 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.94, for a total value of $295,761.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,097,139.08. This represents a 21.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,216 shares of company stock valued at $945,342 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Leonardo DRS Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.