The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Stock Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,212 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 5,719 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.05% of Leidos worth $10,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in Leidos by 3.0% during the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 5,601 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 4,454 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Leidos by 118.0% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 3,581 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Leidos in the 1st quarter worth about $3,199,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in shares of Leidos by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 8,033 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LDOS. Wall Street Zen upgraded Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Leidos in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Leidos from $215.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.80.

Leidos Price Performance

Leidos stock opened at $118.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $113.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.90. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.86 and a 1 year high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.25. Leidos had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 31.92%. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is 15.75%.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.75, for a total transaction of $197,001.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,137 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,686.75. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.