Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Free Report) by 9,709.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 997,578 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 987,408 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.65% of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions worth $29,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aspect Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,900.0% in the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth $30,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 202.3% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,046 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 90.5% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,284 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $55,000. 75.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on KTOS shares. Noble Financial raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $54.00 price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.25.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, insider Stacey G. Rock sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.43, for a total value of $181,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 46,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,100,819.49. This represents a 7.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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. Insiders have sold 149,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,373,706 in the last ninety days. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

KTOS traded up $5.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $51.71. 9,407,189 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,092,542. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.91 and a 12-month high of $52.57. The company's 50-day moving average is $39.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.81. 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 $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 397.80 and a beta of 1.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 3.85%. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share 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.