Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Up 4.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Kratos Defense & Security Solutions shares rose by 4.5% after B. Riley upgraded their price target from $55 to $72, maintaining a buy rating for the stock.
• Insider trading activity included significant stock sales by executives, with Phillip D. Carrai selling 6,000 shares for approximately $202,380 and Steven S. Fendley selling 15,000 shares for about $515,550.
• The company reported earnings of $0.11 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and saw a revenue increase of 17.1% year-over-year.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) shares traded up 4.5% on Monday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $72.00. B. Riley currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $68.68 and last traded at $66.73. 2,214,771 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 3,303,445 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.88.

KTOS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. JMP Securities set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Friday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total value of $202,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 282,084 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,514,693.32. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 15,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.37, for a total transaction of $515,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 384,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,214,990.04. This represents a 3.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 145,572 shares of company stock worth $5,644,656. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KTOS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 49.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 373,974 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $9,865,000 after buying an additional 124,193 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 152,826 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $4,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 118,237 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 16,577 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 241,133 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $6,361,000 after buying an additional 35,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,340,795 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $114,510,000 after buying an additional 307,907 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 655.01 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50-day moving average is $48.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.70. The company has a current ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $351.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $305.67 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The business's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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.

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