Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Acquires Shares of 35,000 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 35,000 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $1,039,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 5.6% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 8,975 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,479 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. MRP Capital Investments LLC grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.0% during the first quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,441 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 43,807 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. 75.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on KTOS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.82.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.61. 2,147,465 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,013,788. The company has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 343.14 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.91 and a 12-month high of $47.09.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stacey G. Rock sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.43, for a total value of $181,720.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 46,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,100,819.49. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.16, for a total transaction of $252,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 276,085 shares in the company, valued at $11,639,743.60. This represents a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 149,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,373,706. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.