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

Raymond James upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $27.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $20.00.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on KTOS. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of KTOS stock opened at $18.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -310.95 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.09 and a 200-day moving average of $18.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 1-year low of $12.12 and a 1-year 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a positive return on equity of 3.01% and a negative net margin of 0.86%. The business had revenue of $273.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $253.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total transaction of $27,075.00. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, 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 transaction of $120,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 90,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,637,369.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,538 shares of company stock valued at $642,099. Insiders own 2.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.9% in 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 worth $80,978,000 after buying an additional 195,615 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $45,459,000 after buying an additional 1,091,380 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,937,000. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $36,247,000 after buying an additional 1,027,715 shares during the period. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by 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.