Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Shares Purchased by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,646 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 2,159 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $1,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,800,357 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $945,458,000 after buying an additional 56,066 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Leidos by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $571,216,000 after purchasing an additional 405,256 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Leidos by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,365,903 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $546,912,000 after purchasing an additional 42,358 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 27.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,405,726 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $392,133,000 after purchasing an additional 522,764 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 2.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,153,420 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $351,007,000 after purchasing an additional 53,307 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $203,320.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at $862,260.48. This trade represents a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,287.36. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Leidos Stock Performance

NYSE LDOS opened at $138.62 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $140.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.23 and a 1 year high of $202.90. The company has a market capitalization of $17.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. As a group, analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

Leidos Profile

Leidos Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S.