Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $43.80 and last traded at $43.45, with a volume of 363033 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on DRS. BTIG Research set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a PE ratio of 55.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $799.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.72 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.38%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DRS. FMR LLC raised its position in Leonardo DRS by 183.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,661 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Leonardo DRS in the first quarter worth $31,254,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Leonardo DRS by 16.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,848,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,298,000 after acquiring an additional 804,938 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter worth $24,920,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Leonardo DRS by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,067,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,495,000 after acquiring an additional 498,979 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

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.