Bayforest Capital Ltd Purchases Shares of 5,203 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired 5,203 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, valued at approximately $154,000, marking a new position for the institutional investor in the 1st quarter.
• Multiple large investors have recently increased their stakes in Kratos, with 75.92% of the company owned by institutional investors.
• Kratos Defense reported strong earnings performance, with a 9.2% year-over-year revenue growth and an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.12 for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations.

Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,203 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $154,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the fourth quarter worth $28,944,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 9,709.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 997,578 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $29,618,000 after purchasing an additional 987,408 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 140.5% during the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,599,740 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $42,201,000 after purchasing an additional 934,455 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 435.3% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 943,638 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $24,893,000 after purchasing an additional 767,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,116,164 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $82,204,000 after purchasing an additional 317,305 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total transaction of $202,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,084 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,514,693.32. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total value of $515,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 384,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,214,990.04. The trade was a 3.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 145,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,644,656. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KTOS. Noble Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.08.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of KTOS traded down $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $56.71. 4,796,199 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,722,225. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.91 and a twelve month high of $61.43. 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 company has a market cap of $8.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 436.26 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $46.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.76.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 1.68%. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share 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.