Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Price Target to $199.00

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $205.00 to $199.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Leidos from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Leidos from $180.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Leidos from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Leidos presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.07.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $149.38 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.68. Leidos has a fifty-two week low of $107.73 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90. The company has a market capitalization of $19.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The aerospace company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.97. Leidos had a net margin of 7.37% and a return on equity of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $4.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. This is a boost from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.22%.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,047 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.94, for a total transaction of $193,632.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,185,095.52. The trade was a 14.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Surya N. Mohapatra sold 2,748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.97, for a total value of $535,777.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,899,594.97. This trade represents a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leidos

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 55.7% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,744 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 2,054 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Leidos during the 2nd quarter worth $126,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos during the second quarter worth $413,000. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Leidos by 7.3% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 13.8% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.