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 published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LDOS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $185.00 price target on Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Leidos from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Argus raised Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $204.00 price target on Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.00.

Leidos Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $154.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $166.83 and a 200-day moving average of $181.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Leidos has a 1-year low of $136.91 and a 1-year high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The aerospace company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.31 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 32.95% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.37 earnings per share. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.050-12.450 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Leidos will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.45%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. This represents a 3.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 77.6% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 94.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

About Leidos

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.