American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Position in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 145,178 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,371 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Leidos worth $20,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LDOS. State Street Corp raised its position in Leidos by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,800,357 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $945,458,000 after purchasing an additional 56,066 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Leidos by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $571,216,000 after buying an additional 405,256 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Leidos by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,365,903 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $546,912,000 after acquiring an additional 42,358 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Leidos by 27.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,405,726 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $392,133,000 after acquiring an additional 522,764 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Leidos by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 841,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $121,223,000 after acquiring an additional 239,846 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.12% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE LDOS opened at $133.95 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $137.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.65. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.23 and a 52-week high of $202.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.72.

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The aerospace company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities research analysts expect that Leidos Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Leidos Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LDOS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on Leidos from $162.00 to $156.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Leidos from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. William Blair cut shares of Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Leidos from $197.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $228.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through this link. Also, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of Leidos 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, 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.