Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $62.79, but opened at $66.00. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions shares last traded at $63.8780, with a volume of 1,368,454 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BTIG Research boosted their target price 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. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.47.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Up 2.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $12.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 376.11 and a beta of 1.08. 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 50 day moving average of $52.36 and a 200-day moving average of $68.59.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.07. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.07% and a net margin of 2.03%.The business had revenue of $458.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,500 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.74, for a total value of $375,310.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 215,052 shares in the company, valued at $12,417,102.48. The trade was a 2.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.13, for a total transaction of $329,910.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 295,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,909,005.60. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 133,523 shares of company stock valued at $7,484,747 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KTOS. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7,701.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,593,549 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $120,966,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573,123 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,807,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $65,293,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,842,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 66.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 556,036 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology-driven company that specializes in national security and defense solutions for government and military customers. The firm’s core capabilities span unmanned systems, satellite communications, missile defense, cyber security, and directed-energy weapons. Through its integrated approach, Kratos delivers mission-critical products and services designed to enhance operational readiness and support force modernization initiatives.

In the unmanned systems arena, Kratos develops high-performance aerial platforms used as target drones, low-cost attritable aircraft and experimental stealth demonstrators.