Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 6.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,411,312 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 145,826 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Leidos were worth $455,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 46.5% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,073 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Leidos by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 41,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,513,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 35.7% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 20,394 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,217,000 after purchasing an additional 5,368 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,026,000. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 32.9% in the second quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 6,967 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In related news, insider Elizabeth A. Porter sold 3,000 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.21, for a total value of $576,630.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,414,500.75. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE:LDOS opened at $179.58 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $184.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.58. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $128.32 and a 52-week high of $205.77. The firm has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.63.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The aerospace company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.31 billion. Leidos had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 32.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.37 earnings per share. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.050-12.450 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LDOS shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Leidos from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Leidos in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group set a $204.00 target price on Leidos in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Leidos from $230.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Leidos from $218.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Leidos has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.18.

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.