Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Decreases Stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 80.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 71,234 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 296,133 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Leidos were worth $7,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Leidos by 16,475.4% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,156,784 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $646,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131,706 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter worth $318,839,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 998.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,097,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $170,718,000 after purchasing an additional 997,807 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Leidos by 64.4% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,529,261 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $241,256,000 after buying an additional 598,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Leidos by 2,924.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 405,181 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $73,095,000 after buying an additional 391,784 shares during the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $140.48 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $114.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.09. The firm has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.52. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.86 and a 1 year high of $205.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.63.

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

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to buyback 20,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LDOS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Leidos from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Leidos in a research report on Sunday. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Leidos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.27.

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.