Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Reaches New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as low as $106.08 and last traded at $104.7390, with a volume of 6853782 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.12.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on LDOS. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Leidos from $220.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $125.00 price objective on Leidos in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $185.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus upgraded shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total value of $197,001.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,137 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.78, for a total value of $317,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 49,476 shares in the company, valued at $7,855,799.28. The trade was a 3.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Leidos by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 567,601 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $88,273,000 after purchasing an additional 132,683 shares in the last quarter. DV Trading LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 300.0% during the first quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 124.3% during the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,042 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 2,794 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Leidos by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 25,432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,955,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $133.08 and a 200-day moving average of $163.35.

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

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio 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.