Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.83.

DRS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total transaction of $120,269.43. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares in the company, valued at $458,732.58. This trade represents a 20.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 189,937 shares in the company, valued at $6,695,279.25. This trade represents a 19.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,535 shares of company stock valued at $1,941,939. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Leonardo DRS in the 4th quarter worth about $5,454,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Leonardo DRS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $570,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 135,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,386,000 after purchasing an additional 31,185 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 47,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,530,000 after purchasing an additional 12,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Leonardo DRS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $116,000. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

Shares of Leonardo DRS stock opened at $33.13 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.90. Leonardo DRS has a 52 week low of $19.88 and a 52 week high of $37.99. The company has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.94, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $981.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. As a group, analysts expect that Leonardo DRS will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.