Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Reaches New 12-Month High - Still a Buy?

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $45.50 and last traded at $45.30, with a volume of 435059 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.64.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BTIG Research set a $49.00 price objective on Leonardo DRS and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS Stock Up 2.6%

The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.63.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business had revenue of $799.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Leonardo DRS's payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Leonardo DRS

In related news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $1,471,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 328,404 shares in the company, valued at $10,738,810.80. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total transaction of $112,786.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 137,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,387,564.68. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 92,354 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,773 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRS. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,809,000 after purchasing an additional 179,224 shares during the period. Illumine Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter worth about $1,784,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $344,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter worth approximately $503,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,934,919 shares of the company's stock valued at $256,377,000 after acquiring an additional 263,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.76% of the company's stock.

Leonardo DRS Company 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.