Marshall Wace LLP Increases Stock Holdings in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 340.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,046 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,769 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $1,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 233.3% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 42.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 1,086 shares during the last quarter. Longboard Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS during the 4th quarter worth $213,000. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised shares of Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Pamela Morrow sold 8,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $290,765.36. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 17,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $569,281.40. This trade represents a 33.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total transaction of $112,786.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 137,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,387,564.68. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 144,360 shares of company stock valued at $4,849,137 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Leonardo DRS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DRS opened at $36.73 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.88 and a fifty-two week high of $37.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.19.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $981.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. Analysts expect that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Company Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.