Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Raised to Buy at Bank of America

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $40.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 27.96% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Leonardo DRS currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.83.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

DRS stock opened at $31.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98. Leonardo DRS has a 1 year low of $19.88 and a 1 year high of $37.99.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Leonardo DRS will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Leonardo DRS

In other news, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $120,269.43. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,732.58. This trade represents a 20.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 8,235 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.50, for a total value of $284,107.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 81,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,824,273.50. The trade was a 9.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,770 shares of company stock worth $2,226,047 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Leonardo DRS

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter valued at $5,454,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter valued at $570,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Leonardo DRS by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 135,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,386,000 after buying an additional 31,185 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC raised its stake in Leonardo DRS by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 47,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after buying an additional 12,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Fund Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Leonardo DRS in the fourth quarter valued at $116,000. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Leonardo DRS

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.