Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRS) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 1,128,996 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 108% from the previous session’s volume of 544,005 shares.The stock last traded at $28.71 and had previously closed at $29.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DRS. 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 note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Leonardo DRS from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Leonardo DRS from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Leonardo DRS has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Leonardo DRS Trading Up 5.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.01. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $33.67 and a 200-day moving average of $31.49.

Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Leonardo DRS had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 6.23%. Equities research analysts forecast that Leonardo DRS, Inc. will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Leonardo DRS Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%.

Leonardo DRS announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Leonardo DRS

In other Leonardo DRS news, CEO William Lynn III sold 45,000 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 234,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,004,303.59. The trade was a 16.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Dippold sold 25,880 shares of Leonardo DRS stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.08, for a total value of $881,990.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,028 shares in the company, valued at $1,602,714.24. The trade was a 35.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 150,089 shares of company stock valued at $5,178,619 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Leonardo DRS

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DRS. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 183.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,457,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,715,000 after purchasing an additional 2,236,661 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Leonardo DRS during the 4th quarter valued at $24,920,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,067,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,495,000 after purchasing an additional 498,979 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 261.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 621,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,081,000 after purchasing an additional 449,642 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Leonardo DRS by 71.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 921,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,995,000 after purchasing an additional 384,522 shares during the period. 18.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Leonardo DRS

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.