Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Buys 122,532 Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates increased its Kratos stake by 37.7%, purchasing 122,532 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 447,302 shares valued at approximately $19.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 75.92% of the company.
• Kratos insiders sold 382,013 shares worth $23.9 million during the quarter, including sales by senior executives under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $92.32. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $0.21 EPS and $458.8 million in revenue, up 30.5% year over year.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Free Report) by 37.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 447,302 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 122,532 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. owned approximately 0.24% of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions worth $19,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the third quarter worth $1,128,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 34.5% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,982 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 2,560 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 163.8% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 185,316 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $7,911,000 after acquiring an additional 115,062 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 90.1% during the third quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 9,168 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bouvel Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 38.8% during the third quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 56,729 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,422,000 after acquiring an additional 15,847 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.50, for a total value of $48,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 61,200 shares in the company, valued at $2,968,200. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Phillip Carrai sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.86, for a total transaction of $259,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,744,152.56. This represents a 3.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 382,013 shares of company stock valued at $23,856,842. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KTOS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Monday, September 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold (c)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.32.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock opened at $38.96 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $48.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 5.54 and a quick ratio of 4.99. The company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.60 and a beta of 1.11. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.84 and a 1-year high of $134.00.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.07. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.07% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company had revenue of $458.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Profile

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc is a technology and defense contractor that develops systems and products for national security applications. The company supports the U.S. Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, national security-related organizations and selected commercial customers, with an emphasis on affordable, rapidly deployable technologies.

Its offerings include unmanned aerial and target systems, hypersonic and high-speed systems, rocket and propulsion technologies, satellite communications equipment, microwave electronics, radar and missile-defense systems, electronic warfare solutions, command-and-control systems, and virtual and live training products.

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