Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. $KGS

Key Points

• Encompass Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Kodiak Gas Services by 32.7%, selling 529,258 shares and holding approximately 1.6% of its portfolio in the company.
• Recent analyst reports have increased price targets for Kodiak Gas Services, with Mizuho raising its target from $45.00 to $47.00 and JPMorgan setting a new target of $43.00.
• Kodiak Gas Services announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share and approved a share buyback plan allowing the repurchase of $50 million in shares, indicative of confidence in the stock's valuation.

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. (NYSE:KGS - Free Report) by 32.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,090,200 shares of the company's stock after selling 529,258 shares during the quarter. Kodiak Gas Services comprises 1.6% of Encompass Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC owned 1.23% of Kodiak Gas Services worth $40,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in Kodiak Gas Services by 88.1% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,347,700 shares of the company's stock worth $136,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,567,849 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Kodiak Gas Services by 3.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,044,939 shares of the company's stock valued at $113,576,000 after purchasing an additional 102,157 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Kodiak Gas Services by 9.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,897,588 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,080,000 after acquiring an additional 238,573 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Kodiak Gas Services by 38.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,302,080 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,568,000 after purchasing an additional 362,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Kodiak Gas Services during the 1st quarter valued at $40,648,000. Institutional investors own 24.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kodiak Gas Services from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Kodiak Gas Services from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Kodiak Gas Services from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Kodiak Gas Services in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kodiak Gas Services has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.30.

Kodiak Gas Services Stock Performance

KGS traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $33.77. 1,734,876 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,257,651. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.46 and a 1-year high of $50.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.56 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.87.

Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Kodiak Gas Services had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 6.48%.The firm had revenue of $322.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Kodiak Gas Services declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Kodiak Gas Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Kodiak Gas Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 200.00%.

About Kodiak Gas Services

Kodiak Gas Services, Inc operates contract compression infrastructure for customers in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It operates in two segments, Compression Operations and Other Services. The Compression Operations segment operates company-owned and customer-owned compression infrastructure to enable the production, gathering, and transportation of natural gas and oil.