Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Kosmos Energy (NYSE:KOS)

Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE:KOS) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 33,569 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 785% compared to the average daily volume of 3,791 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kosmos Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in Kosmos Energy by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 153,669 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 33,520 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its position in shares of Kosmos Energy by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 143,809 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 14,151 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Kosmos Energy by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 245,034 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 21,895 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Kosmos Energy by 119.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 121,523 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 66,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Old Port Advisors acquired a new position in Kosmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Johnson Rice lowered shares of Kosmos Energy from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $4.50 to $3.50 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Kosmos Energy from $2.00 to $1.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $1.00 price objective (down from $3.40) on shares of Kosmos Energy in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Clarkson Capital initiated coverage on Kosmos Energy in a research note on Friday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Kosmos Energy from $1.70 to $0.80 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kosmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.08.

Kosmos Energy Price Performance

KOS stock opened at $1.69 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $805.99 million, a P/E ratio of -2.48 and a beta of 0.89. Kosmos Energy has a 1 year low of $0.84 and a 1 year high of $3.49.

Kosmos Energy (NYSE:KOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.02). Kosmos Energy had a negative return on equity of 26.28% and a negative net margin of 23.64%.The firm had revenue of $310.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $360.82 million. Analysts anticipate that Kosmos Energy will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kosmos Energy Company Profile

Kosmos Energy Ltd. is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Since its founding in 2003, the company has focused on identifying and developing hydrocarbon reserves in frontier and emerging basins around the world. Kosmos combines geological and geophysical expertise with a disciplined approach to acreage acquisition and partner selection to pursue high‐impact offshore exploration opportunities.

The company’s portfolio is anchored by assets in West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.