Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Free Report) by 67.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,730 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 37,031 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the first quarter worth about $1,328,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,367,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 17.9% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 35,720 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 5,420 shares during the last quarter. MRA Advisory Group boosted its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 44.8% during the first quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 24,586 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 7,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the first quarter worth approximately $471,000. 75.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 2,419 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.87, for a total value of $101,283.53. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,825,722.56. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.28, for a total transaction of $175,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 331,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,699,614.88. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 151,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,251,396. Company insiders own 2.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KTOS. Noble Financial raised their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. 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. raised their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:KTOS traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $43.63. 5,470,029 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,810,352. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 2.26. The firm has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 335.64 and a beta of 0.99. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.91 and a 52-week high of $46.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.10.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions 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.