Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS Shares Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 57.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,900 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $1,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 64.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,315 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.0% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of 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. KeyCorp began coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.53.

Insider Activity

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total value of $119,515.09. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 57,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,388,270.72. This represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.57, for a total value of $535,990.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 318,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,382,567.95. This trade represents a 2.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 663,865 shares of company stock worth $50,935,776 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

KTOS opened at $79.29 on Friday. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.90 and a twelve month high of $112.57. The firm has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 609.97 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 4.30, a quick ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.76.

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

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology-driven company that specializes in national security and defense solutions for government and military customers. The firm’s core capabilities span unmanned systems, satellite communications, missile defense, cyber security, and directed-energy weapons. Through its integrated approach, Kratos delivers mission-critical products and services designed to enhance operational readiness and support force modernization initiatives.

In the unmanned systems arena, Kratos develops high-performance aerial platforms used as target drones, low-cost attritable aircraft and experimental stealth demonstrators.