Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading 3.3% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)’s stock price was up 3.3% on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $54.00 to $70.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $61.05 and last traded at $61.09. Approximately 1,791,612 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 19% from the average daily volume of 2,212,423 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.12.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on KTOS. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.58.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $247,904.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 318,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,033,416.50. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.76, for a total value of $1,350,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,328,388.48. This trade represents a 50.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 151,572 shares of company stock worth $5,586,226. 2.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Aspect Partners LLC boosted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,900.0% during the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 202.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,046 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $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 Trading Down 0.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a PE ratio of 452.19 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.08.

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

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

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.