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

Raymond James upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. Raymond James currently has $27.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $20.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced 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. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Benchmark restated a buy rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $22.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Up 9.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KTOS opened at $18.86 on Friday. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a twelve month low of $12.12 and a twelve month high of $21.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.13 and a 200-day moving average of $18.44.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $273.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.03 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total value of $27,075.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 90,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,637,369.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 3,500 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.87, for a total value of $73,045.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 223,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,656,743.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total value of $27,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,637,369.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,538 shares of company stock worth $763,479 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,164,826 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $246,824,000 after acquiring an additional 229,472 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,990,920 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $80,978,000 after purchasing an additional 195,615 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 56.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,026,556 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $45,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,380 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,937,000. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC boosted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 74.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 2,413,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $36,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027,715 shares during the period. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

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.