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

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 5,683 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,806 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KTOS has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $27.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.75.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KTOS traded up $1.72 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.73. 1,107,577 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,670,757. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.18. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has a 1 year low of $17.91 and a 1 year high of $39.13. The company has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 377.24 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a current ratio of 3.22.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The aerospace company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $302.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.25 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 3.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonah Adelman sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.76, for a total value of $1,350,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,328,388.48. This trade represents a 50.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bobbi Doorenbos sold 5,000 shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 145,617 shares of company stock valued at $4,658,171 in the last quarter. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KTOS. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at about $517,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 29.5% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 80,761 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,398,000 after acquiring an additional 18,405 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth approximately $225,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth approximately $154,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 11.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 393,614 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,686,000 after purchasing an additional 41,265 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Company Profile

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.