Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at William Blair

William Blair downgraded shares of Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on LDOS. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Leidos from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Leidos in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.27.

Leidos Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $126.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.66. Leidos has a 1-year low of $123.22 and a 1-year high of $202.90. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.76.

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

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In other news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,260.48. This trade represents a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following 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. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Leidos by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,450,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,225,784,000 after purchasing an additional 84,003 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Leidos by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,800,357 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $945,458,000 after purchasing an additional 56,066 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Leidos by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $571,216,000 after purchasing an additional 405,256 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Leidos by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,393,313 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $487,649,000 after purchasing an additional 27,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased 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 valued at $378,942,000 after purchasing an additional 682,532 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

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.