Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. $KTOS Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) by 13.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,251,028 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 343,972 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were worth $112,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 435.1% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 43,011 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,265,000 after buying an additional 34,973 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 245.2% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 601,674 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $45,673,000 after buying an additional 427,396 shares during the period. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter worth approximately $34,842,000. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in the second quarter worth approximately $53,746,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions by 65.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 714,083 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $54,206,000 after acquiring an additional 281,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on KTOS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Citizens Jmp cut their target price on shares of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from $134.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Deanna H. Lund sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.55, for a total value of $242,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 280,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,617,643.85. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Eric M. Demarco sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.33, for a total value of $19,299,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 761,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,995,786.56. This represents a 28.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 428,688 shares of company stock valued at $26,672,182 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of KTOS opened at $49.34 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.54. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a 52 week low of $43.09 and a 52 week high of $134.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a PE ratio of 290.24 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 4.99 and a current ratio of 5.54.

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

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Profile

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.