Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $42.82 and last traded at $40.45, with a volume of 5388 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DRS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $49.00 price objective on Leonardo DRS and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leonardo DRS presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS Trading Down 0.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.08.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $799.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.70, for a total transaction of $1,471,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 328,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,738,810.80. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total value of $112,786.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 137,283 shares in the company, valued at $4,387,564.68. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,354 shares of company stock worth $3,019,773. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leonardo DRS

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRS. Barclays PLC grew its position in Leonardo DRS by 148.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,032,000 after acquiring an additional 106,565 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Leonardo DRS by 133.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,850,000 after buying an additional 98,141 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter valued at about $415,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its position in Leonardo DRS by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 19,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 6,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares in the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Leonardo DRS

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.