Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stock Position in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 250,783 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,135 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.09% of Leonardo DRS worth $8,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Leonardo DRS Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Leonardo DRS stock opened at $32.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $32.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.81. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.88 and a twelve month high of $37.99.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leonardo DRS declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Leonardo DRS news, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.81, for a total value of $122,844.49. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 74,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,962.05. This represents a 4.51 % 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 this link. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $1,586,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,535 shares of company stock valued at $1,941,939 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leonardo DRS has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.83.

About Leonardo DRS

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.