Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $39.96 and last traded at $38.91, with a volume of 791554 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on KTOS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 401.04 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.81 and a 200 day moving average of $30.69.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $302.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.68% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Stacey G. Rock sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.74, for a total transaction of $150,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,879,867.14. This represents a 7.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,567 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $247,904.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 318,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,033,416.50. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,184 shares of company stock worth $5,149,125. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $488,332,000 after buying an additional 1,728,179 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,340,795 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $114,510,000 after buying an additional 307,907 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,130,109 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $82,576,000 after buying an additional 203,245 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,116,164 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $82,204,000 after buying an additional 317,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 25.5% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,609,621 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $77,480,000 after buying an additional 530,599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

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.