Madison Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 117,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,791,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DRS. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 233.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Leonardo DRS by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in Leonardo DRS by 42.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Leonardo DRS in the third quarter valued at about $109,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Leonardo DRS in the third quarter valued at about $113,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.76% of the company’s stock.

Leonardo DRS Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ DRS opened at $33.00 on Friday. Leonardo DRS, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.88 and a 1 year high of $37.99. The firm has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.77, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.00.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $981.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $942.18 million. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 6.59%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Leonardo DRS’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Sally Wallace sold 8,353 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $274,312.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,811,454.40. This trade represents a 13.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total value of $1,586,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 189,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,695,279.25. The trade was a 19.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 144,360 shares of company stock worth $4,848,926. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRS has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America raised Leonardo DRS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Leonardo DRS from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.83.

Leonardo DRS 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.