Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Shares Down 1.7% – Here’s Why

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) shares dropped 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $46.08 and last traded at $46.16. 2,988,255 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 4,331,682 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KTOS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $99.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $135.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Down 1.7%

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 company has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 271.53 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.87.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Eric Demarco sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.33, for a total value of $19,299,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 761,632 shares in the company, valued at $48,995,786.56. This represents a 28.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Scot B. Jarvis sold 10,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $635,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,135,310.50. This represents a 13.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 389,188 shares of company stock valued at $24,294,682. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 148,622 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,458,084 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $110,683,000 after buying an additional 476,049 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 12.2% in 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 buying an additional 164,607 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,398,525 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $106,162,000 after buying an additional 556,036 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $104,807,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

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.