Versor Investments LP Raises Stake in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) by 195.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,600 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,500 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Leonardo DRS were worth $1,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DRS. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Leonardo DRS by 71.7% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 921,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,995,000 after acquiring an additional 384,522 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Leonardo DRS by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,809,000 after buying an additional 179,224 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 16.6% during the third 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. grew its stake in shares of Leonardo DRS by 1,133.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,286,000 after acquiring an additional 106,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 148.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,032,000 after acquiring an additional 106,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DRS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Leonardo DRS from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.17.

Leonardo DRS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DRS opened at $29.90 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.59. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.88 and a twelve month high of $37.99.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Leonardo DRS had a net margin of 6.59% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business had revenue of $981.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.18 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.57%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Leonardo DRS news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.07, for a total transaction of $1,533,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 234,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,004,303.59. The trade was a 16.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Pamela Morrow sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.81, for a total value of $386,391.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $437,387.65. This represents a 46.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 150,089 shares of company stock worth $5,178,619. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.