Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Up 3% After Analyst Upgrade

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) shares traded up 3% on Thursday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $50.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $44.81 and last traded at $44.57. 991,884 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 1,997,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.28.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $52.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.82.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,567 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $247,904.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 318,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,033,416.50. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.99, for a total transaction of $197,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 288,048 shares in the company, valued at $9,502,703.52. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 149,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,373,706. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 4th quarter worth $1,156,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,169 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 3,452 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,284 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 39,331 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 2,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company's stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Up 3.1%

The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 343.14 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.93.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 3.85%. The firm had revenue of $302.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $292.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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.