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

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.83.

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

Leonardo DRS Trading Up 2.8 %

DRS opened at $33.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.90. Leonardo DRS has a 1-year low of $19.88 and a 1-year high of $37.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

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 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 1.09%. Leonardo DRS’s payout ratio is currently 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Eric Salzman sold 3,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $120,269.43. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,732.58. This represents a 20.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John Baylouny sold 3,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.90, for a total transaction of $112,575.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,498,854.60. The trade was a 4.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,535 shares of company stock worth $1,941,939. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DRS. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Leonardo DRS by 7.1% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 226.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 23.3% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 23,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,418 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 1,133.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,286,000 after purchasing an additional 106,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Leonardo DRS by 42.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. 18.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.