Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Up 4% - Still a Buy?

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) shot up 4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $57.21 and last traded at $56.45. 2,762,022 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 28% from the average session volume of 2,150,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KTOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $54.00 target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Benchmark raised their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.25.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 0.2%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.84. The firm has a market cap of $9.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 451.51 and a beta of 1.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $302.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 15,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 384,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,214,990.04. This trade represents a 3.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,567 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $247,904.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 318,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,033,416.50. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 151,572 shares of company stock worth $5,586,226 in the last quarter. 2.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $488,332,000 after buying an additional 1,728,179 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7.6% during 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. boosted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,130,109 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $82,576,000 after purchasing an additional 203,245 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 25.5% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,609,621 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $77,480,000 after purchasing an additional 530,599 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.