Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 3,307 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 16.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,451 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 3,307 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Leidos were worth $4,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Kendall Capital Management raised its stake in Leidos by 93.7% in the second quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 4,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 145.6% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 4,742 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC purchased a new position in shares of Leidos in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $286,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Leidos by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 90,038 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $14,204,000 after purchasing an additional 21,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Leidos during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,556,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE:LDOS opened at $194.63 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $189.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.69. The firm has a market cap of $24.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.62. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $123.62 and a one year high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.44. Leidos had a return on equity of 33.02% and a net margin of 8.11%.The business had revenue of $4.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. Research analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total value of $543,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,575 shares in the company, valued at $7,526,738. The trade was a 6.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on LDOS. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.09.

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.