Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Earns Buy Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $25.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock.

KTOS has been the topic of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of KTOS stock opened at $18.85 on Thursday. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 1 year low of $12.12 and a 1 year high of $21.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -314.25 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.45.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $273.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $253.39 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a positive return on equity of 3.01% and a negative net margin of 0.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total transaction of $27,075.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,637,369.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total transaction of $27,075.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 90,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,637,369.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,295,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 34,538 shares of company stock worth $642,099. 2.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $1,628,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 56.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,026,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $45,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,380 shares in the last quarter. Profit Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $2,608,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 192.7% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 80,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after purchasing an additional 52,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,105 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,817,000 after purchasing an additional 66,442 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc operates as a technology company that addresses the defense, national security, and commercial markets. It operates through two segments, Kratos Government Solutions and Unmanned Systems. The company offers ground systems for satellites and space vehicles, including software for command and control, telemetry, and tracking and control; jet-powered unmanned aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles, and rocket systems; propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, spacecraft, and launch systems; command, control, communication, computing, combat, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance; and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, and satellite; counter unmanned aircraft systems, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual and augmented reality training systems for the warfighter.