New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 405,789 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,767 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $18,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,738,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter worth about $691,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 54.1% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 4,451 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 1,550.0% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,617 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $503,000. 75.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on KTOS. Truist Financial upped their price target on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $78.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.06.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

NASDAQ KTOS opened at $70.96 on Wednesday. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $23.90 and a one year high of $112.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $84.38 and a 200 day moving average of $65.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 3.88 and a current ratio of 4.43. The company has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 709.67 and a beta of 1.15.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.20% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The firm had revenue of $347.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Phillip D. Carrai sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.11, for a total value of $432,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 204,968 shares in the company, valued at $14,780,242.48. This trade represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jonah Adelman sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.80, for a total value of $2,244,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 9,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $699,230.40. This trade represents a 76.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 108,866 shares of company stock valued at $8,699,898 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.37% of the company’s stock.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of mission critical products, services and solutions for United States national security priorities. It operates through the Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) and Unmanned Systems (US) segments. The KGS segment consists of an aggregation of KGS operating segments, including microwave electronic products, space, satellite and cyber, training solutions.