Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Kosmos Energy Call Options (NYSE:KOS)

Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE:KOS) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kosmos Energy by 56.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 387,739 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 140,261 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Kosmos Energy by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 278,082 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 12,045 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Kosmos Energy by 21.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,541,006 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,793,000 after acquiring an additional 443,384 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Kosmos Energy in the first quarter worth $120,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kosmos Energy in the second quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 95.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens assumed coverage on Kosmos Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $1.75 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Kosmos Energy from $1.70 to $0.80 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $1.00 target price (down previously from $3.40) on shares of Kosmos Energy in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kosmos Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Kosmos Energy in a research note on Friday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $4.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kosmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.08.

Kosmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:KOS traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $1.68. The stock had a trading volume of 20,611,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,586,188. Kosmos Energy has a one year low of $0.84 and a one year high of $3.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $801.68 million, a P/E ratio of -2.51 and a beta of 0.89.

Kosmos Energy (NYSE:KOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $310.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.82 million. Kosmos Energy had a negative return on equity of 26.28% and a negative net margin of 23.64%. As a group, analysts expect that Kosmos Energy will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current year.

About Kosmos Energy

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.