Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $350,000 Holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LDOS) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Leidos were worth $350,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LDOS. FMR LLC lifted its position in Leidos by 27.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,405,726 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $392,133,000 after purchasing an additional 522,764 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Leidos by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,504,392 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $571,216,000 after purchasing an additional 405,256 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Leidos by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 841,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $121,223,000 after purchasing an additional 239,846 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Leidos by 53.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 576,022 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $93,891,000 after purchasing an additional 199,686 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Leidos by 185.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 157,379 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $22,672,000 after purchasing an additional 102,214 shares during the period. 76.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LDOS. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Leidos from $197.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Leidos from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Leidos to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. William Blair cut shares of Leidos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Leidos from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $228.00 to $153.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Leidos currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leidos

In other news, Director Robert C. Kovarik, Jr. sold 1,511 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $203,320.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,408 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $862,260.48. This trade represents a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gary Stephen May sold 2,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 11,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,287.36. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Leidos Stock Performance

Leidos stock opened at $133.67 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $141.77 and a 200-day moving average of $155.90. Leidos Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.22 and a 1 year high of $202.90. 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 company has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Leidos Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

About Leidos

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.