Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 30.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 567,601 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 132,683 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $88,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LDOS. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $646,463,000 after buying an additional 4,131,706 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the 4th quarter valued at $318,839,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 998.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,097,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $170,718,000 after acquiring an additional 997,807 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Leidos by 64.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $241,256,000 after acquiring an additional 598,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Leidos by 2,924.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 405,181 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $73,095,000 after acquiring an additional 391,784 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $115.67 on Monday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.86 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $113.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.3 EPS for the current year.

Leidos announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is 15.75%.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In related news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the firm’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 owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on LDOS shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Leidos from $140.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Leidos from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.80.

Leidos Company 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.