Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Price Target to $193.00

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) had its target price lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $205.00 to $193.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Argus upgraded Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $204.00 target price on shares of Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.64.

Leidos Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:LDOS opened at $130.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.56. Leidos has a 12 month low of $127.86 and a 12 month high of $205.77. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $160.15 and its 200-day moving average is $178.21.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Leidos will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.75%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total transaction of $197,001.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 49,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,855,799.28. This represents a 3.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $646,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131,706 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Leidos in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,839,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new stake in Leidos in the third quarter valued at approximately $242,464,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 998.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,097,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $170,718,000 after buying an additional 997,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 64.4% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $241,256,000 after buying an additional 598,974 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.