Insider Selling: Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Director Sells $140,850.00 in Stock

Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Director Gary May sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $140,850.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,204 shares in the company, valued at $1,437,233.40. This trade represents a 8.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Leidos Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $133.19 on Friday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.86 and a twelve month high of $205.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to repurchase 20,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Leidos’s payout ratio is 16.04%.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 46.5% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Leidos by 86.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Leidos by 2.7% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Leidos by 20.2% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,405 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,532,000 after purchasing an additional 6,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis increased its stake in Leidos by 222.3% in the second quarter. Natixis now owns 8,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 5,625 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 price objective on Leidos in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered Leidos from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price target on Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.93.

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.