Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Trading Up 1.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) were up 1.6% on Tuesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $112.00 to $134.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions traded as high as $121.57 and last traded at $119.72. Approximately 4,094,452 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 4,750,034 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.86.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on KTOS. 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. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.94.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other news, insider Jonah Adelman sold 30,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions 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 sale, the insider owned 9,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $699,230.40. The trade was a 76.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Eric M. Demarco sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.09, for a total value of $14,818,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,196,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,629,199.33. This trade represents a 14.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 906,079 shares of company stock valued at $73,343,943. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Here are the key news stories impacting Kratos Defense & Security Solutions this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Opened a 55,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art hypersonic system manufacturing and payload integration facility in Princess Anne, MD — expands capacity to support MACH‑TB 2.0 and work for the Navy, Air Force, DARPA and MDA, strengthening Kratos’ addressable market in hypersonics and launch/test support. GlobeNewswire: Princess Anne facility
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Birmingham operations with a new 40,000 sq. ft. facility — further build‑out of U.S. defense industrial base capacity that supports production scale-up for unmanned systems and related programs. Business Insider: Birmingham expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst price-target upgrades — Citizens Jmp raised its target to $125 (market outperform), and other firms have lifted targets/rating recently, supporting bullish sentiment and providing a near-term catalyst for institutional and retail buying. TickerReport: Analyst target raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Media coverage labels KTOS a top defense pick (e.g., “strong buy” mentions) — helpful for retail visibility but not a concrete company-level catalyst. MSN: Strong buy mention
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest report shows reported zero shares — likely a reporting anomaly rather than a genuine change in bearish positioning; not an actionable signal by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling by Stacey G. Rock — filings show sales of 16,568 shares (avg ~$116.74) on Jan 12 and 4,000 shares (avg ~$105.37) on Jan 8, materially reducing her holdings; large insider sales can concern some investors about insider sentiment or liquidity needs. SEC filing: SEC filing. Coverage: AmericanBankingNews: Insider sells

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KTOS. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 190,481 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,655,000 after purchasing an additional 35,098 shares during the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at about $791,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 64.4% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,315 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,570 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,286 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 393,614 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $11,686,000 after purchasing an additional 41,265 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.68, a current ratio of 4.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $78.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.66. The firm has a market cap of $20.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 920.99 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

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.