Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $99.51 and last traded at $101.3960, with a volume of 44108 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $100.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LDOS shares. Argus raised Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Leidos from $140.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $178.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Leidos currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.08.

Leidos Stock Up 0.2%

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $124.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.55. The firm has a market cap of $12.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a return on equity of 31.92% and a net margin of 8.15%.The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.100-12.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,686.75. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. This 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. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leidos

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Leidos by 16,475.4% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $646,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,131,706 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,421,634 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $256,463,000 after purchasing an additional 22,013 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 25,505.4% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 42,505 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,668,000 after purchasing an additional 42,339 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos in the fourth quarter worth approximately $318,839,000. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 275.0% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 278,134 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $50,175,000 after purchasing an additional 203,958 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Leidos

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.