Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Up 7.2% – Still a Buy?

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) shares traded up 7.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $74.44 and last traded at $74.11. 2,532,479 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 3,580,882 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 741.17 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a current ratio of 4.43.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total transaction of $622,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 339,419 shares in the company, valued at $30,167,560.72. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.82, for a total transaction of $412,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 258,073 shares in the company, valued at $17,760,583.86. This trade represents a 2.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,124 shares of company stock worth $6,344,328. 2.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,389.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,707,776 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $247,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,525,921 shares during the period. Rovida Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter worth about $82,315,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $488,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,179 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,118,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $64,226,000 after buying an additional 1,219,585 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

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.