JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,165,572 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 338,820 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $456,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Leidos by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,450,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,225,784,000 after buying an additional 84,003 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Leidos by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,800,357 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $945,458,000 after buying an additional 56,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Leidos by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,365,903 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $546,912,000 after purchasing an additional 42,358 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Leidos by 27.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Leidos by 39.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 841,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $121,223,000 after acquiring an additional 239,846 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LDOS. UBS Group decreased their price target on Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. William Blair cut shares of Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $178.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In related news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the company’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 directly owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,260.48. This represents a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total value of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 owned by company insiders.

Leidos Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $133.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.21. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $123.23 and a one year high of $202.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $137.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.64. The stock has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

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.