BNP Paribas Exane Initiates Coverage on Leidos (NYSE:LDOS)

BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) in a research note issued on Wednesday. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 25.10% from the stock’s current price.

LDOS has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America decreased their target price on Leidos from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Leidos from $232.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Leidos currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.25.

Leidos Stock Up 2.9%

LDOS traded up $3.78 on Wednesday, reaching $131.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 370,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,118,624. Leidos has a 1 year low of $121.20 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The business’s 50 day moving average is $147.22 and its 200 day moving average is $172.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $16.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.56.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.Leidos’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Leidos will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 49,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Leidos in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Leidos by 77.6% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 94.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Leidos by 110.5% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 160 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

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.