Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 581,675 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 11,780 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $104,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Leidos by 77.6% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Leidos during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Leidos by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 76.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LDOS. Argus raised Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Leidos from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.55.

More Leidos News

Here are the key news stories impacting Leidos this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat estimates and management raised full-year guidance — Leidos reported $3.13 EPS on $4.4B revenue (both above consensus), non‑GAAP EPS up year‑over‑year, backlog strength and raised FY2026 revenue/EPS guidance. This supports longer‑term revenue visibility. Leidos Posts Strong First Quarter Results and Raises Full-Year Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Management struck a confident tone on the earnings call and highlighted demand in intelligence, energy and ATC that supports backlog growth — investors looking for secular defense/IT tailwinds may view this favorably. Leidos Holdings Earnings Call Signals Confident Outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts trimmed price targets but still show significant upside — Stifel cut its target to $193 (hold) and RBC trimmed to $180 while maintaining an outperform stance; the revisions moderate sentiment but leaves upside per those models. Stifel Nicolaus price target change (Benzinga) RBC price target change (TickerReport)
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability and acquisition-related costs raised concern — GAAP net income and EPS declined year‑over‑year; management disclosed ~$39M of Entrust-related costs and indicated the guidance lift was largely acquisition‑driven rather than organic margin improvement. These points drove a sell‑the‑news reaction and earlier sharp intraday weakness. Leidos falls as investors parse Q1 margin pressure (QuiverQuant)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and institutional positioning notes add caution — recent insider sales and mixed hedge‑fund/institutional flows highlighted by analytics providers can heighten near‑term volatility. Insider & institutional activity (QuiverQuant)

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of Leidos stock opened at $135.03 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $161.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.58. The company has a market cap of $17.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.40. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $129.35 and a one year high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.75%.

Leidos 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.