Sanctuary Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. $LDOS

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 33.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,414 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 6,109 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Leidos were worth $1,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Leidos during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Leidos by 94.7% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Leidos in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Price Performance

NYSE:LDOS opened at $139.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 2.00 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.41. 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.35. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.81% and a net margin of 7.80%.The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Leidos has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.200-12.500 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 12.38 EPS for the current year.

Leidos declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other news, Director Noel B. Geer sold 10,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,820,980.84. This represents a 22.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Leidos from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Leidos from $205.00 to $193.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Leidos in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Leidos from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Leidos from $152.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.93.

Leidos Company 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.