WealthTrust Asset Management LLC Has $663,000 Stock Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

WealthTrust Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 32.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,603 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares during the period. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Leidos were worth $663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LDOS. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Leidos by 100.1% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 8,837 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,421 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Leidos during the third quarter worth about $244,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in 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 buying an additional 2,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in Leidos by 51.5% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 6,358 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 2,161 shares in the last quarter. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of Leidos stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.24, for a total transaction of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,287.36. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $203,320.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LDOS. StockNews.com downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. William Blair downgraded Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Leidos from $197.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.87.

Leidos Trading Up 1.3 %

Leidos stock opened at $134.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $140.42 and a 200-day moving average of $155.02. The company has a market cap of $17.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $123.23 and a one year high of $202.90.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Leidos’s dividend 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.