Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.97 EPS

Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The aerospace company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.97, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $4.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. Leidos had a return on equity of 30.31% and a net margin of 7.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Leidos updated its FY24 guidance to $9.80-10.00 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 9.800-10.000 EPS.

Leidos Stock Down 1.4 %

LDOS stock opened at $183.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $162.48 and a 200-day moving average of $150.78. Leidos has a fifty-two week low of $94.57 and a fifty-two week high of $188.36.

Leidos Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Leidos’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Leidos’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.31%.

Insider Transactions at Leidos

In related news, Director Gary Stephen May sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.02, for a total transaction of $144,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,622,241.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Leidos from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Leidos from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Leidos from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Leidos from $205.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Leidos from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.77.

Leidos Company 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.