Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 1,675,325 Shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 76.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 503,348 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,675,325 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $23,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KTOS. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 29.6% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,086,494 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $236,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,577 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 22.2% during the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,507,692 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $209,382,000 after purchasing an additional 818,104 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,949,763 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $183,490,000 after purchasing an additional 301,135 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,837,005 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $131,779,000 after purchasing an additional 434,561 shares during the period. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 2,755,446 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $127,990,000 after purchasing an additional 324,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

KTOS opened at $75.96 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.30. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.90 and a 52-week high of $112.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.68 and a current ratio of 4.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.83 billion, a PE ratio of 584.35 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Insider Activity

In other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions news, Director Amy Zegart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.17, for a total value of $741,700.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 25,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 248,285 shares in the company, valued at $17,881,485.70. This represents a 9.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 435,194 shares of company stock valued at $32,941,216. 2.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KTOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. BTIG Research increased their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $70.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.06.

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.