First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 646,052 Shares of Kosmos Energy Ltd. $KOS

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE:KOS) by 9.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,694,248 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 646,052 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Kosmos Energy were worth $21,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Kosmos Energy by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,083,075 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $19,699,000 after buying an additional 1,204,789 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Kosmos Energy by 106.5% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 25,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 13,031 shares during the period. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Kosmos Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Kosmos Energy by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,106,800 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,077,000 after buying an additional 163,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Kosmos Energy in the first quarter valued at $131,000. 95.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kosmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of KOS stock opened at $2.47 on Thursday. Kosmos Energy Ltd. has a 52 week low of $0.84 and a 52 week high of $3.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of -1.47, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $2.52 and its 200-day moving average is $2.37.

Kosmos Energy (NYSE:KOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $370.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $405.21 million. Kosmos Energy had a negative net margin of 59.38% and a negative return on equity of 37.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Kosmos Energy Ltd. will post 0.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Kosmos Energy news, Director Roy A. Franklin sold 43,466 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.73, for a total value of $118,662.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 150,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $411,471.06. This trade represents a 22.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Josh R. Marion sold 24,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.05, for a total transaction of $51,186.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 233,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,478.20. This represents a 9.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 294,580 shares of company stock worth $689,275. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on KOS. Weiss Ratings lowered Kosmos Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Kosmos Energy to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Kosmos Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $2.25 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Kosmos Energy from $3.00 to $2.40 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Mizuho reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $3.00 price target (up from $2.00) on shares of Kosmos Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $2.53.

Kosmos Energy 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.