Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Up 4.5% Following 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)'s share price shot up 4.5% during trading on Monday after BTIG Research upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. BTIG Research now has a $80.00 price target on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $68.68 and last traded at $66.73. 2,214,771 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 3,303,445 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.88.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $74.00 price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.64.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.53, for a total transaction of $409,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 353,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,687,487.03. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider David M. Carter sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $151,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 101,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,838,835.25. This represents a 3.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 93,786 shares of company stock valued at $3,900,302. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter valued at $697,000. Clough Capital Partners L P acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter valued at $15,589,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 0.7% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 148,360 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,891,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 29.3% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 14,334 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 3,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 59.1% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,094,884 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $50,857,000 after buying an additional 406,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company's stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Up 0.5%

The firm has a market cap of $11.67 billion, a PE ratio of 691.27 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $51.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 4.43 and a quick ratio of 3.88.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.02. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 1.20%. The business had revenue of $351.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $305.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current 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.