Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 27,055 Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 144.1% during Q1, now owning 45,827 shares valued at $1.36 million.
• Insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares at an average price of $51.42, reducing his ownership by 2.17%.
• The company's stock reached a 12-month high of $66.13 and reported quarterly earnings of $0.11 EPS, exceeding expectations by $0.02.

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Free Report) by 144.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,827 shares of the aerospace company's stock after acquiring an additional 27,055 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $1,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,340,795 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $114,510,000 after purchasing an additional 307,907 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,130,109 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $82,576,000 after acquiring an additional 203,245 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,079,022 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $54,845,000 after purchasing an additional 172,030 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,798,339 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $47,440,000 after purchasing an additional 35,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 140.5% in the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,599,740 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $42,201,000 after purchasing an additional 934,455 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KTOS. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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 note on Monday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 15,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total value of $515,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 384,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,214,990.04. The trade was a 3.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 145,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,644,656 in the last ninety days. 2.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KTOS traded up $1.53 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $65.41. The stock had a trading volume of 5,997,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,332,113. The stock has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 654.17 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a current ratio of 4.43. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.36 and a 12-month high of $68.68.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.02. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 1.20%. The business had revenue of $351.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $305.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal 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.