Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Barclays

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on KTOS. Oppenheimer began coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Monday. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $135.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.40.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Down 5.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:KTOS opened at $34.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.94 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 4.87, a current ratio of 5.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 12-month low of $31.57 and a 12-month high of $134.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.01.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The aerospace company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $471.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $471.40 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.18% and a net margin of 1.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. Analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Scot B. Jarvis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $635,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,123 shares in the company, valued at $4,135,310.50. This trade represents a 13.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Fendley sold 7,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,180,313.76. The trade was a 2.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 73,013 shares of company stock valued at $4,041,582. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 15.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,930,588 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $295,867,000 after buying an additional 914,515 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 26.7% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 2,032,469 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $86,766,000 after buying an additional 428,445 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC grew its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 21,357.3% during the third quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC now owns 1,823,870 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $77,861,000 after buying an additional 1,815,370 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,664,120 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $71,041,000 after buying an additional 238,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,515,997 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $106,893,000 after buying an additional 164,607 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

More Kratos Defense & Security Solutions News

These are some of the KTOS news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Kratos launched KnownSpace Recon+™, a portable terminal designed to provide space-domain awareness capabilities to warfighters in the field. The release adds to the company’s space and defense technology offerings, though the announcement did not disclose expected sales. Kratos Introduces Knownspace Recon+ Portable Terminal
• Neutral Sentiment: Kratos completed a System Requirements Review for the U.S. Space Force’s Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking ground-management effort. The milestone advances engineering and integration planning, but is not itself a new contract award or indication of near-term revenue. Kratos Completes SRR Supporting U.S.S.F. SSC’s RMWT Effort
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst actions weigh against the positive company news: reports cite a downgrade and lower price expectations from Guggenheim, Canaccord Genuity, and UBS. The articles provided do not specify the revised targets, but cuts can reinforce investor caution. Kratos Shares Down on Analyst Downgrade

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions is a defense technology company that develops products and services for U.S. government agencies, national security organizations, and allied governments. Its work spans unmanned systems, satellite communications, microwave electronics, command-and-control systems, and training and simulation. The company’s offerings include unmanned aerial vehicles and target drones, as well as systems and components used in space and satellite communications and other defense applications.