Letson Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS

Letson Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the first quarter worth $37,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 64.4% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,315 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 129.0% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 893 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions during the second quarter worth about $45,000. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $74.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $80.00 target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. One research 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.02, for a total transaction of $1,800,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 248,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,485.70. This trade represents a 9.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William A. Hoglund sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.35, for a total transaction of $5,576,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 147,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,943,799.55. This trade represents a 33.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 448,866 shares of company stock valued at $33,889,148. 2.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Trading Down 3.6%

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock opened at $75.96 on Friday. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.90 and a 12-month high of $112.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.30 and a quick ratio of 3.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.83 billion, a PE ratio of 584.35 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.89.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The aerospace company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $347.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.01 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions had a return on equity of 3.14% and a net margin of 1.56%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.