Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) in a research report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price target on the aerospace company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.18% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $33.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Benchmark upped their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Noble Financial boosted their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.90.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of KTOS opened at $43.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.10. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a one year low of $17.91 and a one year high of $46.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 335.64 and a beta of 0.99.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 3.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Thomas E. Iv Mills sold 5,786 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.11, for a total value of $191,574.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $507,642.52. The trade was a 27.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.45, for a total value of $206,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 404,133 shares in the company, valued at $11,901,716.85. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 151,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,251,396. Company insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KTOS. Rovida Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the fourth quarter worth $46,789,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $488,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,179 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter worth $41,118,000. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,163,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $64,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $28,944,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of mission critical products, services and solutions for United States national security priorities. It operates through the Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) and Unmanned Systems (US) segments. The KGS segment consists of an aggregation of KGS operating segments, including microwave electronic products, space, satellite and cyber, training solutions.