Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Coverage Initiated at BNP Paribas Exane

Research analysts at BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) in a research note issued on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s target price suggests a potential upside of 16.00% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.20.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KTOS traded down $1.27 on Tuesday, reaching $68.97. 395,178 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,588,096. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $23.90 and a fifty-two week high of $112.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of 685.80 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. The company’s 50 day moving average is $84.73 and its 200-day moving average is $62.09.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released 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 business had revenue of $347.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.01 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The firm’s 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, analysts anticipate that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.58, for a total value of $473,060.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 346,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,412,482.78. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 5,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.03, for a total transaction of $460,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 308,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,351,590.07. This represents a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,716 shares of company stock valued at $6,283,225. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,389.0% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,707,776 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $247,409,000 after acquiring 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 valued at $82,315,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,728,179 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth $41,118,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,163,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,585 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.