Share Buyback Program Initiated by Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Board of Directors

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Trading Down 7.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ DRS opened at $28.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.54. Leonardo DRS has a 1-year low of $19.88 and a 1-year high of $37.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $942.18 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Leonardo DRS will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio is 45.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DRS has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total value of $1,586,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 189,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,695,279.25. The trade was a 19.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Dippold sold 25,880 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.08, for a total transaction of $881,990.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 47,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,602,714.24. This trade represents a 35.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 150,089 shares of company stock worth $5,178,619 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Leonardo DRS Company Profile

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.