Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 43,232 Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 3,235.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,568 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,232 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $3,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 148,622 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,311,095 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $251,345,000 after purchasing an additional 124,607 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,046,194 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $278,331,000 after purchasing an additional 209,189 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 13.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,072,700 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $189,383,000 after purchasing an additional 247,652 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7,701.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,593,549 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $120,966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

Shares of KTOS opened at $46.03 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 270.76 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 5.63 and a quick ratio of 5.08. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $45.58 and a one year high of $134.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.74.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The aerospace company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $371.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $345.00 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 2.82% and a net margin of 2.08%.The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on KTOS. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $99.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $99.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Truist Financial raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.10, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 295,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,331,920. This trade represents a 1.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.13, for a total transaction of $338,845.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 221,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,549,401.50. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,036 shares of company stock valued at $8,455,857. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.