Insider Selling: Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) CFO Sells 7,000 Shares of Stock

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) CFO Deanna Lund sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.78, for a total value of $341,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 273,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,341,866.58. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

KTOS traded down $0.81 on Wednesday, reaching $46.16. The company had a trading volume of 3,032,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,399,336. The stock has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 271.53 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 4.99 and a current ratio of 5.54. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.09 and a fifty-two week high of $134.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $51.64 and its 200 day moving average is $59.59.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $458.80 million during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,446,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $337,565,000 after purchasing an additional 148,622 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted 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 acquiring an additional 164,607 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 48.5% during the fourth 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 66.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,398,525 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $106,162,000 after acquiring an additional 556,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $104,807,000. Institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KTOS. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler raised Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $82.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup restated 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 given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.06.

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.