Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS)

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 43,950 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 303% compared to the typical volume of 10,902 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KTOS shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Monday. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $105.00 to $70.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $75.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.50.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, insider Steven Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.16, for a total transaction of $393,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 288,111 shares in the company, valued at $16,180,313.76. The trade was a 2.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Scot B. Jarvis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $635,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 65,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,135,310.50. This represents a 13.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 382,013 shares of company stock valued at $23,856,842 in the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KTOS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter worth $65,293,000. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at $53,746,000. American Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at $51,338,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at $34,842,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 48.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,056,872 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $74,520,000 after purchasing an additional 342,789 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of KTOS opened at $38.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.99, a current ratio of 5.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.58. The stock has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.73 and a beta of 1.11. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 52 week low of $36.37 and a 52 week high of $134.00.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $458.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $410.36 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.07% and a net margin of 2.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc is a technology and defense contractor that develops systems and products for national security applications. The company supports the U.S. Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, national security-related organizations and selected commercial customers, with an emphasis on affordable, rapidly deployable technologies.

Its offerings include unmanned aerial and target systems, hypersonic and high-speed systems, rocket and propulsion technologies, satellite communications equipment, microwave electronics, radar and missile-defense systems, electronic warfare solutions, command-and-control systems, and virtual and live training products.