Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 177,365 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,263,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 94.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Leidos during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in Leidos in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 value of $1,406,600.00. Following the sale, the director owned 34,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Leidos from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Leidos from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Leidos from $210.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Leidos has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.93.

Leidos Trading Up 1.8%

LDOS stock opened at $139.85 on Friday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.86 and a 1-year high of $205.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $119.23 and its 200-day moving average is $139.41. The firm has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.52.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS 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%.Leidos’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.21 EPS. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback 20,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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

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.