Tradewinds LLC. Acquires New Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Tradewinds LLC. bought a new position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,200 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 568,765 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $81,936,000 after buying an additional 222,075 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Leidos by 510.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 999,661 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $144,011,000 after acquiring an additional 835,930 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Leidos by 733.8% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,361 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $10,712,000 after acquiring an additional 65,443 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Leidos by 356.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 44,432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,401,000 after purchasing an additional 34,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 39,786 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,732,000 after purchasing an additional 9,068 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $203,320.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,260.48. This represents a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total value of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,287.36. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE LDOS opened at $134.77 on Wednesday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.23 and a 1-year high of $202.90. The company has a market capitalization of $17.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $136.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.37. 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 announced 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 return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. Equities analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. William Blair downgraded shares of Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.07.

Leidos Company Profile

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.