UPDATE: C.K. Cooper Initiates Coverage on Midstates Petroleum Company with Buy Rating, $11 PT Following Transformational Acquisitions

In a report published Thursday, C.K. Cooper & Company analyst Jeff Grampp initiated coverage on Midstates Petroleum Company MPO with a Buy rating and $11.00 price target.

In the report, C.K. Cooper noted, “MPO is a small cap E&P that began trading publicly after conducting its IPO in April 2012. The Company has an operational focus in the Upper Gulf Coast Tertiary Trend in Louisiana and the Mid-Continent region, which includes the Mississippi Lime play in Oklahoma and Kansas and the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma and Texas. MPO has made two recent transformational acquisitions of producing properties in the Mid-Continent, including the acquisition of Mississippi Lime properties from privately-held Eagle Energy in October 2012 and the acquisition of Anadarko Basin properties from Panther Energy, LLC in April 2013, for a combined consideration of nearly $1.3 billion. The two core operating areas provide MPO with abundant liquids-rich drilling prospects, which the Company is developing quite aggressively. Additionally, MPO is led by a strong management team, with executive leadership having served in key roles with large oil and gas companies including Apache Corp. APA, Noble Corporation NE and SM Energy SM, and their leadership and expertise should benefit the long-term prospects of the Company.”

Midstates Petroleum Company closed on Wednesday at $5.99.