Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Down 4.8% After Insider Selling

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)’s share price fell 4.8% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $66.91 and last traded at $67.31. 2,409,247 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 3,587,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.67.

Specifically, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total value of $101,502.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 59,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,262,177.07. This represents a 2.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.11, for a total value of $432,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 204,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,780,242.48. This trade represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KTOS. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 673.17 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.38.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.02. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The business had revenue of $347.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.01 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. CWM LLC increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 22.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,551 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,145 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 8,416 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 52.2% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 24,194 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 8,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,315,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.