Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 253,961 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 28.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 628,463 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 253,961 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Leidos were worth $90,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,450,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,225,784,000 after acquiring an additional 84,003 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Leidos by 13.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $571,216,000 after purchasing an additional 405,256 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Leidos by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,393,313 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $487,649,000 after purchasing an additional 27,410 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Leidos by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,448 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $378,942,000 after buying an additional 682,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Leidos by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,901,433 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $273,920,000 after buying an additional 155,481 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Leidos Stock Performance

LDOS stock opened at $145.94 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $136.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.43. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.62 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. Analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.32%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In related news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $203,320.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $862,260.48. This trade represents a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,287.36. The trade was a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LDOS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen cut Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Leidos from $191.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, William Blair cut Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.23.

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.