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

Key Points

• Leidos has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 14 brokerages, with an average 1-year price target of $191.25.
• The company beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $3.13 versus $2.88 expected, while revenue of $4.40 billion also topped estimates and rose 3.7% year over year.
• Leidos also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, payable June 30, representing an annualized yield of about 1.4%.

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $191.25.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LDOS shares. Wall Street Zen raised Leidos from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 target price on Leidos in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Argus raised Leidos to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Leidos in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Activity

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,686.75. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Leidos by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,022,359 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,086,434,000 after buying an additional 217,141 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $646,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,131,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Leidos by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,538,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $636,097,000 after acquiring an additional 64,909 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Leidos by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,411,312 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $455,642,000 after acquiring an additional 145,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Leidos by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,926,646 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $364,059,000 after acquiring an additional 397,385 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Leidos Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE LDOS opened at $126.90 on Wednesday. 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 has a twelve month low of $121.20 and a twelve month high of $205.77. The company has a market cap of $15.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.50. The business's fifty day moving average is $144.19 and its 200 day moving average is $170.32.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.97 EPS. Leidos's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Leidos will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Leidos's payout ratio is presently 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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