Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) Stock Price Down 3.1% – Time to Sell?

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) dropped 3.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $51.37 and last traded at $52.00. 1,962,504 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 4,384,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on KTOS shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $105.00 price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $134.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.47.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.44. The stock has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 305.88 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 5.54 and a quick ratio of 4.99.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.07. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 2.03% and a return on equity of 3.07%. The business had revenue of $458.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.36 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, SVP Marie Mendoza sold 1,513 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $97,391.81. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 61,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,989,395.12. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven S. Fendley sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.16, for a total value of $393,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 288,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,180,313.76. This represents a 2.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 433,688 shares of company stock worth $26,990,882 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 7,600.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 385 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Vision Retirement LLC raised its position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 288.2% in the 1st quarter. Vision Retirement LLC now owns 427 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

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.