Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 277,954 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,018,349 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 277,954 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Leidos were worth $207,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $646,463,000 after buying an additional 4,131,706 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,421,634 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $256,463,000 after acquiring an additional 22,013 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Leidos by 25,505.4% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 42,505 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,668,000 after acquiring an additional 42,339 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Leidos during the 4th quarter valued at $318,839,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Leidos during the 1st quarter valued at $20,225,000. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In related news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total value of $1,406,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 34,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,820,980.84. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Leidos Stock Up 0.5%

LDOS opened at $140.59 on Friday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.86 and a fifty-two week high of $205.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $119.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.42. The company has a market capitalization of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.35. Leidos had a net margin of 7.80% and a return on equity of 30.81%. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 EPS for the current year.

Leidos announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, July 31st that authorizes the company to repurchase 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Leidos’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on LDOS. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Leidos in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Leidos from $152.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.93.

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.