Royce & Associates LP Sells 463,983 Shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Royce & Associates LP cut its holdings in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 32.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 968,180 shares of the company’s stock after selling 463,983 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $31,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,915,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,061,000 after acquiring an additional 51,014 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Leonardo DRS by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,239,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,371,000 after buying an additional 176,326 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Leonardo DRS by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,088,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,165,000 after buying an additional 75,999 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Leonardo DRS by 71.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 921,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,995,000 after buying an additional 384,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Leonardo DRS by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,809,000 after buying an additional 179,224 shares in the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total value of $1,586,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 189,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,695,279.25. This represents a 19.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $120,269.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,732.58. This represents a 20.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,535 shares of company stock valued at $1,941,939 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on DRS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.83.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

DRS stock opened at $32.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.11. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.88 and a 52-week high of $37.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.84.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. Research analysts expect that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS Company Profile

Leonardo DRS, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing.