Deanna Lund Sells 30,000 Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) CFO Deanna Lund sold 30,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total value of $2,222,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 273,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,244,952.80. The trade was a 9.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

Shares of KTOS traded up $1.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.78. 2,287,043 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,538,188. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $23.90 and a one year high of $112.57. The firm has a market cap of $12.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 559.89 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.30 and a quick ratio of 3.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $84.38 and a 200-day moving average of $65.01.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $347.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.01 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.56% and a return on equity of 3.14%. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 144.1% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 45,827 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 27,055 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 448.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,352 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 7,647 shares during the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 68.3% in the 1st quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 57,707 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 23,419 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,447,687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $488,332,000 after buying an additional 1,728,179 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KTOS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. B. Riley cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. BTIG Research upped their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.06.

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.