Foster & Motley Inc. Purchases New Stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Foster & Motley Inc. acquired a new position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 31,365 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,230,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos during the second quarter worth about $349,000. First National Bank of Omaha acquired a new position in shares of Leidos in the second quarter valued at $2,007,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Leidos during the second quarter worth approximately $25,521,000. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in Leidos during the 2nd quarter worth $198,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Leidos in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,024,436,000. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of LDOS opened at $143.81 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.60. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.86 and a 1 year high of $205.77.

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

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LDOS shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Leidos from $138.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $124.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $165.00 price target on Leidos in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Leidos from $152.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.93.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.66, for a total transaction of $1,406,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 34,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,820,980.84. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

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.