Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Up 2.7% – Still a Buy?

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)’s share price shot up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $69.34 and last traded at $69.14. 3,212,979 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 3,585,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $78.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Up 2.7%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.42. The firm has a market cap of $11.67 billion, a PE ratio of 691.47 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 4.43 and a quick ratio of 3.88.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $347.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.03, for a total value of $460,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 308,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,351,590.07. This represents a 1.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total transaction of $473,060.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 346,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,412,482.78. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 85,124 shares of company stock valued at $6,817,388. 2.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised 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 worth $247,409,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525,921 shares during the last quarter. Rovida Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth about $82,315,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $488,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,179 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,118,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,163,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $64,226,000 after buying an additional 1,219,585 shares during the period. 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.