Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.60 Million Stock Position in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,028 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $2,600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DRS. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 71.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 921,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,995,000 after acquiring an additional 384,522 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,809,000 after acquiring an additional 179,224 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,239,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,371,000 after acquiring an additional 176,326 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 1,133.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,286,000 after acquiring an additional 106,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 148.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,032,000 after purchasing an additional 106,565 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Leonardo DRS

In other news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.81, for a total transaction of $122,844.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 74,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,962.05. The trade was a 4.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $120,269.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,732.58. The trade was a 20.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 63,770 shares of company stock valued at $2,226,047. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Leonardo DRS Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DRS opened at $29.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.69. The company has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.11. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.88 and a fifty-two week high of $37.99.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on DRS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.17.

Leonardo DRS 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.