Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS Shares Acquired by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 31.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,672 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 3,524 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Leidos were worth $2,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kendall Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 93.7% during the second quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 4,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Leidos by 145.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 4,742 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC bought a new position in Leidos in the 2nd quarter valued at $286,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the second quarter worth $2,556,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 1,353.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 165,003 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $26,031,000 after purchasing an additional 153,648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.04, for a total value of $543,120.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,575 shares in the company, valued at $7,526,738. This represents a 6.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Leidos Price Performance

LDOS stock opened at $195.56 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $189.37 and a 200-day moving average of $182.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.58. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.62 and a 12 month high of $205.77.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 33.02%. Leidos has set its FY 2025 guidance at 11.450-11.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Leidos’s payout ratio is 16.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Leidos from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup started coverage on Leidos in a report on Thursday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $218.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Leidos from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Leidos has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.91.

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.