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

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 10,731 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 169% compared to the typical volume of 3,992 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $33.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Noble Financial boosted their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.90.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 6.6%

Shares of KTOS traded down $2.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,471,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,813,431. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.68 and its 200 day moving average is $32.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 311.92 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 2.26. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 1 year low of $17.91 and a 1 year high of $46.52.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $302.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 3.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 2,419 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.87, for a total value of $101,283.53. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,825,722.56. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.76, for a total transaction of $1,350,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,328,388.48. This trade represents a 50.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 151,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,251,396 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Aspect Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,900.0% in the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 202.3% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,046 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. 75.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.