Wealthfront Advisers LLC Acquires Shares of 8,174 Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,174 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Leidos by 46.5% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Leidos by 86.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,248,000 after buying an additional 6,600 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Leidos by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Leidos by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,405 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,532,000 after buying an additional 6,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its position in shares of Leidos by 222.3% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 8,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 5,625 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,820,980.84. This trade represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Leidos Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $141.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.86 and a 12 month high of $205.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $117.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.19.

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

Leidos announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business 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 1.2%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LDOS shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Leidos in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings cut Leidos from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 target price on Leidos in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.93.

Leidos 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.