Bank of America Upgrades Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) to “Buy”

Bank of America upgraded shares of Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $40.00 price target on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Leonardo DRS presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.83.

Leonardo DRS Stock Up 4.8 %

NASDAQ:DRS opened at $31.26 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.75. Leonardo DRS has a 52 week low of $19.88 and a 52 week high of $37.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.57%.

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

Insider Activity at Leonardo DRS

In related news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.90, for a total value of $112,575.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,334 shares in the company, valued at $2,498,854.60. This trade represents a 4.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,770 shares of company stock valued at $2,226,047 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 179,224 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 32,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 7,728 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 4.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 291,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,236,000 after purchasing an additional 13,613 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 16.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,239,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,371,000 after purchasing an additional 176,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illumine Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS during the fourth quarter worth about $1,784,000. 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.