Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Shares Gap Up to $17.28

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $17.28, but opened at $18.80. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions shares last traded at $18.96, with a volume of 503,381 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Friday. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.14.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Up 9.1 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -314.20 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,765 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 214,765 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.19, for a total value of $63,665.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 290,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,277,246.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,538 shares of company stock valued at $763,479. 2.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. Peregrine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 382,344 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,027,000 after acquiring an additional 30,273 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 1st quarter worth about $2,610,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 116,026 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after acquiring an additional 35,790 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 274,512 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,046,000 after acquiring an additional 86,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 1st quarter worth about $853,000. Hedge funds and other 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.