Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Guggenheim

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Guggenheim to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

KTOS has been the subject of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $105.00 price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler upgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $82.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock opened at $47.59 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.93 billion, a PE ratio of 279.94 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 5.54 and a quick ratio of 4.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $51.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.03. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 52-week low of $43.09 and a 52-week high of $134.00.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.07. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 3.07%. The company had revenue of $458.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.57 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,513 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $97,391.81. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 61,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,989,395.12. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Scot Jarvis sold 10,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $635,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,135,310.50. This represents a 13.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 381,688 shares of company stock worth $23,935,287 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at $104,807,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter valued at about $65,293,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter worth about $53,746,000. American Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter worth about $51,338,000. Finally, Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,842,000. 75.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc is a technology company that develops products and systems for national security, defense and commercial applications. The company primarily serves the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies, while also supporting allied governments and selected commercial customers.

Its offerings include unmanned aerial and ground systems, target drones, tactical drones, satellite communications systems, space-related products, missile defense technology, hypersonic and high-speed systems, radar and command-and-control solutions, and microwave electronics.