Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.22 EPS

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The aerospace company reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.22, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 33.02%.

Leidos Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $175.90 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.59. Leidos has a 52-week low of $123.62 and a 52-week high of $205.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Leidos’s payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other Leidos news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.21, for a total value of $576,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 38,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,414,500.75. This represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leidos

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in Leidos in the 4th quarter worth approximately $425,000. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of Leidos by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 53,213 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $9,600,000 after buying an additional 5,435 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1,139.0% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 83,807 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $15,119,000 after buying an additional 77,043 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Leidos in the fourth quarter worth $131,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter worth $1,696,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Leidos from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $204.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Leidos has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $213.09.

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.