Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 5,683 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 49% compared to the average daily volume of 3,806 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Eric M. Demarco bought 9,500 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.35 per share, for a total transaction of $250,325.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,267,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,398,150.70. The trade was a 0.76% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 2,031 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.36, for a total value of $63,692.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 69,288 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,172,871.68. This trade represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 162,617 shares of company stock worth $5,284,921. Insiders own 2.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 360,665 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $10,708,000 after buying an additional 139,725 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $374,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $517,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 29.5% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 80,761 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 18,405 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $225,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

KTOS stock traded up $0.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.83. The stock had a trading volume of 2,235,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,689,126. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 2.61. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a twelve month low of $17.91 and a twelve month high of $39.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 368.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50-day moving average price is $33.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.41.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.68% and a net margin of 1.31%. The company 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 firm posted $0.11 EPS. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KTOS. Truist Financial raised their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. JMP Securities restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Benchmark raised their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $27.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.75.

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.