Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Leidos from $178.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Leidos from $160.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.80.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS opened at $106.51 on Thursday. Leidos has a 12-month low of $98.86 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The stock has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.75, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $116.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.23.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.97 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Leidos will post 12.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 15.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $197,001.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leidos

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 55.1% in the 2nd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 42,747 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,406,000 after purchasing an additional 15,192 shares during the last quarter. Tema ETFs LLC grew its stake in Leidos by 28.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 2,622 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in Leidos by 4.9% in the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 2,260 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Leidos by 0.7% in the second quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 258,982 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $26,667,000 after buying an additional 1,908 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Leidos by 2.8% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 35,803 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,687,000 after buying an additional 982 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.