Natixis Acquires 40,842 Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Natixis raised its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 1,172.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 44,326 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 40,842 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,628,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 113.1% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 311,594 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,727,000 after buying an additional 165,356 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,990,920 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $80,978,000 after buying an additional 195,615 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,164,826 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $246,824,000 after buying an additional 229,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 13.2% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 287,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,286,000 after buying an additional 33,500 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on KTOS shares. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.50.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.67. 93,035 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,196,006. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.23. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.98 and a fifty-two week high of $22.84. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.02 and a quick ratio of 2.47.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a positive return on equity of 3.43% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $277.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In related news, Director Scott I. Anderson sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.78, for a total value of $239,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 90,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,976,208.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Jonah Adelman sold 90,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $1,942,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 44,348 shares in the company, valued at $957,029.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Scott I. Anderson sold 11,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.78, for a total value of $239,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 90,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,976,208.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 175,220 shares of company stock valued at $3,734,576. 2.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Profile

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc operates as a technology company that addresses the defense, national security, and commercial markets. It operates through two segments, Kratos Government Solutions and Unmanned Systems. The company offers ground systems for satellites and space vehicles, including software for command and control, telemetry, and tracking and control; jet-powered unmanned aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles, and rocket systems; propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, spacecraft, and launch systems; command, control, communication, computing, combat, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance; and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, and satellite; counter unmanned aircraft systems, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual and augmented reality training systems for the warfighter.