Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Leidos Holdings, Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with nine analysts rating it as a buy and one as a strong buy, indicating positive prospects for the stock.
• The company's stock price target has been raised by multiple firms, with Argus setting a target of $210.00, while Jefferies raised it to $205.00 after upgrading their rating from hold to buy.
• Leidos recently reported earnings of $3.21 per share, exceeding expectations and signaling a 2.9% year-over-year revenue growth, as well as setting FY 2025 EPS guidance between 11.150 and 11.450.

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $188.3077.

Several research firms have issued reports on LDOS. Argus lifted their price objective on Leidos from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Leidos from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Leidos from $168.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.05, for a total transaction of $356,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,804,892.85. This trade represents a 16.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen Edward Hull sold 12,497 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.14, for a total transaction of $2,226,215.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,817 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,599,040.38. This represents a 32.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,975 shares of company stock valued at $4,078,740 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 145.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,262,000 after buying an additional 4,742 shares during the period. Kendall Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 93.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 4,270 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the period. McAdam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the 2nd quarter valued at about $286,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 49,679 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,704,000 after buying an additional 7,186 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 88,927 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $12,404,000 after buying an additional 14,246 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Leidos Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $190.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $184.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $164.28. Leidos has a 52-week low of $123.62 and a 52-week high of $202.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.24 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 33.57%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.63 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.150-11.450 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Leidos will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Leidos's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.12%.

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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