Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Lifted to Strong-Buy at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $27.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $20.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on KTOS. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $22.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Up 9.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ KTOS opened at $18.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.13 and a 200 day moving average of $18.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 12-month low of $12.12 and a 12-month high of $21.60.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $273.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $253.39 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a negative net margin of 0.86% and a positive return on equity of 3.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.24, for a total transaction of $127,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 345,711 shares in the company, valued at $6,305,768.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.24, for a total transaction of $127,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 345,711 shares in the company, valued at $6,305,768.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.18, for a total transaction of $27,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,218,605.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,538 shares of company stock valued at $642,099 over the last 90 days. 2.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 80,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,204,000 after buying an additional 52,773 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 13,395 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 114,507 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after buying an additional 40,798 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 39.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,550,673 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $23,291,000 after buying an additional 435,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mastrapasqua Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $914,000. Institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

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.