Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock from a buy (b-) rating to a hold (c+) rating. The stock traded as low as $137.11 and last traded at $137.2690, with a volume of 2251087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $148.81.

LDOS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Leidos from $232.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Leidos

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,171 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 1.0% in the third quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 0.7% in the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 8,243 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 492 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 517 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.21.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.97 earnings per share. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. 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%.

About Leidos

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.