LPL Financial LLC Decreases Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

LPL Financial LLC decreased its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS – Get Rating) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,841 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Leidos were worth $1,456,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Leidos by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,087,661 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,629,768,000 after purchasing an additional 236,272 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Leidos by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,137,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $364,047,000 after purchasing an additional 103,470 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Leidos by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,975,172 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $172,768,000 after purchasing an additional 124,866 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Leidos by 29.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,899,486 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $166,149,000 after purchasing an additional 426,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Leidos by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,731,965 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $187,086,000 after buying an additional 79,899 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.74% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Price Performance

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $79.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.80. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.58 and a twelve month high of $110.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.76.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The aerospace company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.12). Leidos had a net margin of 4.60% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LDOS shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Leidos from $130.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. TheStreet lowered Leidos from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $120.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Leidos from $100.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Leidos in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.71, for a total value of $206,062.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,515.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Thomas Arthur Bell bought 6,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $78.81 per share, for a total transaction of $496,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,503. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.71, for a total value of $206,062.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,515.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 7,625 shares of company stock worth $602,898 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Company Profile

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Leidos Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil and health markets. It operates through the following three segments: Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment provides services, solutions, and products focusing on digital modernization, mission systems and integration, Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (“”C4ISR””) technologies and services, maritime solutions, transformative software, analytics, intelligence analysis, mission support and logistics services, weapons systems and space systems and solutions.