Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Raised to “Buy” at The Goldman Sachs Group

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) was upgraded by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $52.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.73% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $33.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Noble Financial boosted their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.55.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 7.3%

Shares of KTOS stock opened at $43.07 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 331.33 and a beta of 1.05. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 1 year low of $17.91 and a 1 year high of $47.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total value of $197,940.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 288,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,502,703.52. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider directly owned 39,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,328,388.48. This 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 138,572 shares of company stock valued at $4,869,566 in the last ninety days. 2.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rovida Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,789,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $488,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,179 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter worth $41,118,000. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,163,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $64,226,000 after buying an additional 1,219,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $28,944,000. Institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

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.