Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) to Issue $0.38 Quarterly Dividend

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.38 per share by the aerospace company on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%.

Leidos has increased its dividend by an average of 2.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Leidos has a dividend payout ratio of 17.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Leidos to earn $8.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.0%.

Leidos Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Leidos stock traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $130.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 756,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 823,629. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Leidos has a 52 week low of $76.58 and a 52 week high of $131.50. The stock has a market cap of $17.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.44.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The aerospace company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 22.92% and a net margin of 1.29%. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Leidos will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Leidos from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet raised shares of Leidos from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Leidos from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Leidos from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.42.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In related news, Director David G. Fubini sold 7,874 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.89, for a total value of $1,007,005.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,879,471.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,745 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.49, for a total transaction of $341,725.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,413,210.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David G. Fubini sold 7,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.89, for a total transaction of $1,007,005.86. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,879,471.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Leidos

Leidos Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S.