Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Down 4.8% After Insider Selling

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) fell 4.8% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $66.91 and last traded at $67.31. 2,409,247 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 3,587,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.67.

Specifically, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,408 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.09, for a total transaction of $101,502.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 59,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,262,177.07. The trade was a 2.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.11, for a total value of $432,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 204,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,780,242.48. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on KTOS. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. BTIG Research upped their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $84.95 and a 200 day moving average of $62.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 4.43 and a quick ratio of 3.88. The stock has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a PE ratio of 673.17 and a beta of 1.11.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $347.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.01 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 1.20%.Kratos Defense & Security Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,389.0% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,707,776 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $247,409,000 after buying an additional 2,525,921 shares during the last quarter. Rovida Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $82,315,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $488,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728,179 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,118,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.2% during the first 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 during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

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.