Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $98.55, but opened at $94.70. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions shares last traded at $97.96, with a volume of 1,852,059 shares.

Specifically, insider David M. Carter sold 4,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.81, for a total value of $411,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 93,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,644,503.29. The trade was a 4.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on KTOS. B. Riley cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. BTIG Research raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.97. The company has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a PE ratio of 946.39 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $351.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $305.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

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.