Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at Raymond James

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $27.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $20.00. Raymond James’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 56.25% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:KTOS opened at $17.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -287.95 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.42. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 12-month low of $12.12 and a 12-month high of $21.60.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $273.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $253.39 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a positive return on equity of 3.01% and a negative net margin of 0.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.19, for a total transaction of $63,665.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 290,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,277,246.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.19, for a total transaction of $63,665.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 290,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,277,246.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 214,765 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,538 shares of company stock worth $763,479. 2.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the third quarter valued at $36,937,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 56.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,026,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $45,459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,380 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 74.2% in the third quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 2,413,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $36,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027,715 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 5,354.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 726,759 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $10,916,000 after acquiring an additional 713,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 39.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,550,673 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $23,291,000 after acquiring an additional 435,654 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc operates as a technology company that addresses the defense, national security, and commercial markets. It operates through two segments, Kratos Government Solutions and Unmanned Systems. The company offers ground systems for satellites and space vehicles, including software for command and control, telemetry, and tracking and control; jet-powered unmanned aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles, and rocket systems; propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, spacecraft, and launch systems; command, control, communication, computing, combat, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance; and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, and satellite; counter unmanned aircraft systems, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual and augmented reality training systems for the warfighter.