Wall Street Zen Upgrades Gulfport Energy (NYSE:GPOR) to “Buy”

Gulfport Energy (NYSE:GPOR) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on GPOR. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Gulfport Energy from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Gulfport Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Tudor Pickering lowered shares of Gulfport Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Gulfport Energy from $219.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Gulfport Energy in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.88.

Gulfport Energy Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of GPOR stock opened at $196.52 on Friday. Gulfport Energy has a 52-week low of $153.27 and a 52-week high of $225.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.43 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $201.47 and its 200-day moving average is $187.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Gulfport Energy (NYSE:GPOR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by ($1.51). The business had revenue of $379.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.18 million. Gulfport Energy had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 1.68%.

Insider Activity

In other Gulfport Energy news, Director David D. Wolf sold 1,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.27, for a total transaction of $320,661.75. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,462 shares in the company, valued at $938,224.74. This trade represents a 25.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Lester Zitkus sold 4,745 shares of Gulfport Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.69, for a total value of $881,099.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,452,281.49. This represents a 37.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 312,172 shares of company stock worth $67,975,930. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Gulfport Energy by 6.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,078,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,165,000 after purchasing an additional 68,664 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gulfport Energy by 49.3% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 565,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,700,000 after acquiring an additional 186,531 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Gulfport Energy by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 482,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,056,000 after acquiring an additional 8,668 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gulfport Energy by 1,281.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 426,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,104,000 after acquiring an additional 395,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Gulfport Energy by 10.2% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 400,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,630,000 after acquiring an additional 36,953 shares during the last quarter.

Gulfport Energy Company Profile

Gulfport Energy Corporation is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company focuses on the development of onshore natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil properties in the United States. Gulfport utilizes horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing techniques to maximize production and enhance recovery from its resource plays.

The company’s primary operations are concentrated in two major U.S. resource basins.