Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $90.22, but opened at $82.37. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions shares last traded at $76.2820, with a volume of 2,122,853 shares.

Specifically, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 5,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.26, for a total transaction of $451,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 303,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,359,069.64. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities raised their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, B. Riley cut Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.36.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Up 7.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a current ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 778.88 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.99.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $347.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.01 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 1.20%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Whittier Trust Co. bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

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.