Marshall Wace LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS - Free Report) by 340.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,046 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 41,769 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $1,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,410 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 18,380 shares of the company's stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,944 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Leonardo DRS

In related news, CFO Michael Dippold sold 26,618 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total value of $870,408.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 68,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,249,825.40. The trade was a 27.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 137,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,387,564.68. The trade was a 2.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 144,360 shares of company stock worth $4,849,137. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Leonardo DRS presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.33.

Leonardo DRS Trading Up 8.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:DRS traded up $3.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $40.23. The stock had a trading volume of 2,063,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 682,152. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.92, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.88 and a fifty-two week high of $40.73.

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

Leonardo DRS announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Leonardo DRS's payout ratio is 45.57%.

About Leonardo DRS

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.