LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Acquires Shares of 13,736 Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 13,736 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,979,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LDOS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Leidos by 71.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,703 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 5.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 26,550 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 28.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 601,633 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $101,261,000 after purchasing an additional 134,037 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 16.1% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 368,904 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $60,131,000 after purchasing an additional 51,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of Leidos during the third quarter worth $210,000. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Leidos Stock Down 0.6 %

Leidos stock opened at $129.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.66. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.22 and a 1-year high of $202.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 30.93%. Research analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LDOS shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Cowen lowered Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. William Blair downgraded shares of Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other Leidos news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $203,320.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at $862,260.48. This trade represents a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,287.36. This represents 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.

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.