Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Up 1.5% - Here's What Happened

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) rose 1.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $46.25 and last traded at $45.32. Approximately 1,153,560 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 2,010,861 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KTOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Noble Financial increased their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $54.00 target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.82.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Up 0.3%

The company's fifty day moving average is $38.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.29. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 344.49 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $302.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 3.85%. The firm's revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 2,419 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.87, for a total value of $101,283.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 67,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,825,722.56. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.16, for a total transaction of $252,960.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 276,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,639,743.60. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 149,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,373,706 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KTOS. Rovida Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,789,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $488,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,179 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the first quarter worth approximately $41,118,000. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,163,223 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $64,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,944,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company's stock.

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.