Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 238,573 Shares of Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. $KGS

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kodiak Gas Services by 9.0%, acquiring an additional 238,573 shares, bringing its total to approximately 2.9 million shares, valued at $108 million.
• Kodiak Gas Services recently declared a $50 million stock buyback program, indicating that the board believes its shares are undervalued.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.49, surpassing expectations and showing a revenue increase of 4.2% year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. (NYSE:KGS - Free Report) by 9.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,897,588 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 238,573 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 3.27% of Kodiak Gas Services worth $108,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Kodiak Gas Services by 40.0% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 1,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Kodiak Gas Services by 37.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 60,450 shares of the company's stock worth $2,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,408 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Kodiak Gas Services by 3,401.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,618 shares of the company's stock worth $918,000 after purchasing an additional 23,915 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in Kodiak Gas Services during the first quarter worth $116,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Kodiak Gas Services by 13.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 443,666 shares of the company's stock worth $16,549,000 after purchasing an additional 52,522 shares during the last quarter. 24.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KGS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Kodiak Gas Services in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on Kodiak Gas Services from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays increased their price target on Kodiak Gas Services from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Kodiak Gas Services from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.10.

Kodiak Gas Services Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:KGS traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $34.76. 1,686,143 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,229,332. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.62 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. has a one year low of $25.21 and a one year high of $50.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.56.

Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kodiak Gas Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Kodiak Gas Services's dividend payout ratio is presently 200.00%.

Kodiak Gas Services declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, August 11th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Kodiak Gas Services Company Profile

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.