Legal & General Group Plc Sells 86,302 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 868,189 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 86,302 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Leidos were worth $125,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Leidos by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $242,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Leidos by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 454 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Leidos by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,738 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Leidos by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,796 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Leidos by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,197 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on LDOS shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, William Blair lowered Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at $862,260.48. This represents a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total value of $279,278.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,287.36. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

Leidos stock opened at $139.79 on Friday. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.23 and a 1-year high of $202.90. The firm has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.04 and a 200-day moving average of $152.22.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

About Leidos

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.