Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) Shares Bought by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 32.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,753 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,314 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,479 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 43,807 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 90.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,284 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 86.6% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,360 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.59, for a total transaction of $172,130.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 370,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,114,529.40. This trade represents a 1.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction 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 now owns 39,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,328,388.48. This trade represents a 50.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,168 shares of company stock worth $3,888,340 in the last three months. 2.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on KTOS shares. StockNews.com downgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. Benchmark increased their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $27.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. JMP Securities reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Up 2.6%

KTOS opened at $34.39 on Friday. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.91 and a 12 month high of $36.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 2.61. The stock has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 343.93 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.53.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.68% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm had revenue of $302.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.25 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.11 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict 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.