Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Up 3% After Analyst Upgrade

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) shares rose 3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $50.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $44.81 and last traded at $44.57. Approximately 991,884 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 1,997,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.28.

KTOS has been the topic of several other research reports. Benchmark lifted their target price on 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $54.00 target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Noble Financial raised their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.76, for a total value of $1,350,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,348 shares in the company, valued at $1,328,388.48. The trade was a 50.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total value of $197,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 288,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,502,703.52. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 149,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,373,706 in the last three months. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rovida Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,789,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the first quarter worth approximately $41,118,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,163,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,944,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of 343.14 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.38 and a 200 day moving average of $32.93.

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