Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on LDOS. William Blair cut shares of Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen cut shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Leidos from $197.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Leidos from $165.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Leidos has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.87.

Leidos Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LDOS stock opened at $129.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Leidos has a fifty-two week low of $123.22 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.24.

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

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other Leidos news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $203,320.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at $862,260.48. The trade was a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,287.36. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leidos

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LDOS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Leidos during the fourth quarter valued at $266,419,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Leidos by 510.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 999,661 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $144,011,000 after purchasing an additional 835,930 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Leidos by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,630,448 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $378,942,000 after purchasing an additional 682,532 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Leidos by 27.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,405,726 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $392,133,000 after acquiring an additional 522,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 405,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Company 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.