Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $177.46.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $178.00 price target on Leidos and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Leidos from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Baird R W downgraded Leidos from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Leidos from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Leidos from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $163.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 27th.

Leidos Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of LDOS opened at $162.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Leidos has a 12-month low of $123.62 and a 12-month high of $202.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.86 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.64. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $153.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.99.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The aerospace company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.50. Leidos had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 7.87%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Leidos will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Leidos's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.10%.

Insider Activity

In other Leidos news, Director Gregory R. Dahlberg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.55, for a total value of $193,187.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,195 shares in the company, valued at $3,121,137.25. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter worth about $266,419,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 510.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 999,661 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $144,011,000 after buying an additional 835,930 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 3,450.0% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 704,106 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $95,012,000 after buying an additional 684,272 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,448 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $378,942,000 after buying an additional 682,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 29.8% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,336,222 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $315,250,000 after buying an additional 536,452 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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