Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Saturday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $52.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $46.97 and last traded at $45.84, with a volume of 16635696 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.33.

KTOS has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $33.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Noble Financial upped their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 2,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.87, for a total value of $101,283.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,825,722.56. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.16, for a total transaction of $252,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 276,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,639,743.60. This trade represents a 2.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 151,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,251,396 in the last three months. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,900.0% in the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the first quarter worth $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 202.3% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,046 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 352.64 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 2.26.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 1.68%. The business had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.25 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of mission critical products, services and solutions for United States national security priorities. It operates through the Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) and Unmanned Systems (US) segments. The KGS segment consists of an aggregation of KGS operating segments, including microwave electronic products, space, satellite and cyber, training solutions.