Truist Financial Upgrades Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) to “Buy”

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS – Get Rating) was upgraded by research analysts at Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, The Fly reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KTOS. StockNews.com cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 21st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $28.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.89.

Shares of KTOS opened at $13.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.31. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 1-year low of $12.54 and a 1-year high of $30.29. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -90.87 and a beta of 0.80.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5th. The aerospace company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $196.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.21 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a negative net margin of 2.43% and a positive return on equity of 2.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

In related news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total value of $28,186.21. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $783,478.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Eric M. Demarco sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.90, for a total value of $139,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 524,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,293,302.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 122,414 shares of company stock valued at $2,274,734. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,366,891 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $232,794,000 after purchasing an additional 118,080 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 3.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,572,976 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $196,054,000 after acquiring an additional 294,143 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 25.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,561,512 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $113,900,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134,464 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,582,254 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $88,896,000 after purchasing an additional 844,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 4,428,851 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $90,703,000 after purchasing an additional 452,543 shares in the last quarter. 85.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (Get Rating)

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc operates as a government contractor of the U.S. Department of Defense. The company operates through two segments, Kratos Government Solutions and Unmanned Systems. The Kratos Government Solutions segment offers microwave electronic products, space and satellite communications, training and cybersecurity/ warfare, C5ISR/ modular systems, turbine technologies, and defense and rocket support services.

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