Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Down 3.3% – What’s Next?

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) traded down 3.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $45.94 and last traded at $46.97. Approximately 6,093,730 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 40% from the average daily volume of 4,338,591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KTOS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler upgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $82.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $135.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Down 3.3%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 5.54 and a quick ratio of 4.99. The firm has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 276.29 and a beta of 1.11.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $458.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.36 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 3.07%. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions’s revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, insider Phillip Carrai sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.83, for a total transaction of $310,895.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 175,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,401,482.99. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.16, for a total transaction of $393,120.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 288,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,180,313.76. This trade represents a 2.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 389,188 shares of company stock valued at $24,294,682 in the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,446,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $337,565,000 after buying an additional 148,622 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,458,084 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $110,683,000 after purchasing an additional 476,049 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,515,997 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $106,893,000 after purchasing an additional 164,607 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 66.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,398,525 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $106,162,000 after acquiring an additional 556,036 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $104,807,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc is a technology company that develops products and systems for national security, defense and commercial applications. The company primarily serves the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies, while also supporting allied governments and selected commercial customers.

Its offerings include unmanned aerial and ground systems, target drones, tactical drones, satellite communications systems, space-related products, missile defense technology, hypersonic and high-speed systems, radar and command-and-control solutions, and microwave electronics.