Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $43.40 and last traded at $42.18, with a volume of 284523 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America upgraded Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BTIG Research set a $49.00 price objective on Leonardo DRS and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS Stock Down 1.1%

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $799.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total value of $112,786.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 137,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,387,564.68. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Pamela Morrow sold 8,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $290,765.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,335 shares in the company, valued at $569,281.40. This represents a 33.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 92,354 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,773 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Leonardo DRS

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 48,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,597,000 after purchasing an additional 7,625 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 148,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,882,000 after purchasing an additional 12,712 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 369,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,157,000 after acquiring an additional 83,077 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 43,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 894,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,399,000 after acquiring an additional 13,911 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Leonardo DRS

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.