Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KGS. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Kodiak Gas Services from $64.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Kodiak Gas Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Kodiak Gas Services from $60.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $84.00 price target on Kodiak Gas Services in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Kodiak Gas Services from $69.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.75.

Kodiak Gas Services Stock Performance

KGS stock opened at $70.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.92. Kodiak Gas Services has a twelve month low of $30.06 and a twelve month high of $77.68. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.17, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.01.

Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $345.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $340.23 million. Kodiak Gas Services had a return on equity of 13.12% and a net margin of 5.13%.The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Kodiak Gas Services will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Kodiak Gas Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Kodiak Gas Services’s payout ratio is currently 264.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Pedro R. Buhigas sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.73, for a total value of $776,987.66. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,380,952.79. This trade represents a 24.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ewan William Hamilton sold 5,797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.18, for a total transaction of $325,675.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 34,346 shares in the company, valued at $1,929,558.28. This represents a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 58,673 shares of company stock valued at $3,269,110 in the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kodiak Gas Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KGS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Kodiak Gas Services by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,170,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,172 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Kodiak Gas Services by 29.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,305,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,436,443 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Kodiak Gas Services by 3,046.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,471,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,888 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in Kodiak Gas Services by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,271,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Kodiak Gas Services in the fourth quarter worth about $39,741,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.95% of the company’s stock.

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. The Other Services segment provides a range of contract services, including station construction, maintenance and overhaul, and other ancillary time and material-based offerings.