Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Up 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) traded up 1.3% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $76.18 and last traded at $75.05. 2,083,055 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 3,574,350 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on KTOS. BNP Paribas set a $80.00 target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 target price 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $84.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.68. The firm has a market cap of $12.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 757.78 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 4.43 and a quick ratio of 3.88.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonah Adelman sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.80, for a total transaction of $2,244,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $699,230.40. The trade was a 76.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $622,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 339,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,167,560.72. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 118,624 shares of company stock worth $9,334,038 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.