Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) CFO Sells $310,500.00 in Stock

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) CFO Deanna Lund sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.10, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 295,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,331,920. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Down 4.2%

Shares of KTOS stock traded down $2.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.31. 4,255,246 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,199,375. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.85 and a 1 year high of $134.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $77.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.79. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of 456.27 and a beta of 1.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The aerospace company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.04. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 1.63%.The firm had revenue of $345.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $327.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.57 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KTOS. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $99.00 target price on the stock. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.28.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,389.0% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,707,776 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $247,409,000 after buying an additional 2,525,921 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7,701.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,593,549 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $120,966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,123 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at $104,807,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the third quarter valued at $91,901,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 29.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,068,863 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $280,402,000 after purchasing an additional 698,778 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology-driven company that specializes in national security and defense solutions for government and military customers. The firm’s core capabilities span unmanned systems, satellite communications, missile defense, cyber security, and directed-energy weapons. Through its integrated approach, Kratos delivers mission-critical products and services designed to enhance operational readiness and support force modernization initiatives.

In the unmanned systems arena, Kratos develops high-performance aerial platforms used as target drones, low-cost attritable aircraft and experimental stealth demonstrators.