JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Stock

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $32.00 to $33.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 14.38% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.17.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

Leonardo DRS stock opened at $28.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.01. Leonardo DRS has a 52-week low of $19.88 and a 52-week high of $37.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.54.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Leonardo DRS will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leonardo DRS news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.90, for a total transaction of $112,575.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,498,854.60. This trade represents a 4.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total transaction of $120,269.43. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold 150,089 shares of company stock worth $5,178,619 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Leonardo DRS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DRS. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,809,000 after buying an additional 179,224 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 32,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 7,728 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 4.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 291,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,236,000 after purchasing an additional 13,613 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 16.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,239,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 46.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 196,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 62,042 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

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.