Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 617 Shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,168 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Leidos were worth $456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LDOS. Bay Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Leidos in the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Leidos by 104.9% during the fourth quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,656 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Interchange Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leidos by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Leidos by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,450,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,225,784,000 after purchasing an additional 84,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Leidos during the 4th quarter worth about $991,000. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on LDOS. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Cowen downgraded Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. William Blair lowered Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Leidos presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.07.

Leidos Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:LDOS opened at $135.76 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 stock has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $137.94 and a 200-day moving average of $153.78. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.13. Leidos had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 30.93%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In related news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,287.36. This represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,408 shares in the company, valued at $862,260.48. The trade was a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.