Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 85.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 805 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 4,567 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Leidos were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Leidos by 73.7% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,366 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Leidos by 23.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 13,869 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,658 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 82.1% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,359 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Leidos by 10.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 20,195 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Leidos by 4.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 86,817 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $14,152,000 after acquiring an additional 3,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leidos news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total value of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,287.36. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $203,320.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $862,260.48. This trade represents a 19.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LDOS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Leidos from $197.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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 company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, William Blair lowered Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.87.

Leidos Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $138.62 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.74. The company has a market cap of $17.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.23 and a 12-month high of $202.90.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Leidos Profile

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.