Van ECK Associates Corp Has $411.17 Million Stock Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,279,221 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 132,091 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.78% of Leidos worth $411,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LDOS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Leidos in the fourth quarter worth $318,839,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new stake in Leidos in the third quarter worth $242,464,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Leidos by 64.4% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $241,256,000 after purchasing an additional 598,974 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Leidos by 2,924.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 405,181 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $73,095,000 after purchasing an additional 391,784 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Leidos by 663.3% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 355,824 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,191,000 after purchasing an additional 309,206 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LDOS. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $232.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Leidos in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Argus raised shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total transaction of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,855,799.28. This trade represents a 3.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Leidos Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $122.05 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $137.96 and a 200-day moving average of $166.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.20 and a 12-month high of $205.77. The company has a market capitalization of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.50.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.75%.

Leidos Company Profile

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.