Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) Shares Sold by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 79.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,554 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 18,040 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Leidos by 1,460.0% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 156 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Leidos during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Leidos by 143.1% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 265 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LDOS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Leidos from $197.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair cut Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.87.

Insider Activity at Leidos

In other 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 transaction of $279,278.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $203,320.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Leidos Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Leidos stock opened at $133.58 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $17.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.22 and a fifty-two week high of $202.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $140.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.32.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 30.93% and a net margin of 7.53%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

Leidos Company 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.