Truist Financial Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Stock

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Truist Financial’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.16% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.33.

Leonardo DRS Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of DRS traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $35.98. The stock had a trading volume of 83,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 662,260. The company has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.55, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.79. Leonardo DRS has a 1-year low of $19.88 and a 1-year high of $37.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

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

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Leonardo DRS

In related news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction 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 approximately $6,695,279.25. The trade was a 19.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $120,269.43. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,732.58. The trade was a 20.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 144,360 shares of company stock worth $4,849,137 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,934,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,377,000 after acquiring an additional 263,002 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 183.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,715,000 after buying an additional 2,236,661 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 2.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,915,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,061,000 after buying an additional 51,014 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,594,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,505,000 after acquiring an additional 278,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,432,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,274,000 after purchasing an additional 166,936 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Leonardo DRS

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.