Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $28.19 and traded as high as $34.88. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $34.1610, with a volume of 219,536 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NGS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Raymond James Financial lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $32.12 and a 200-day moving average of $28.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $429.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08 and a beta of 0.42.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $43.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.25 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 11.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.73%.

Insider Transactions at Natural Gas Services Group

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total transaction of $331,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 285,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,464,925.12. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jean K. Holley bought 2,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.04 per share, with a total value of $70,167.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,390 shares in the company, valued at $461,055.60. This represents a 17.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,252 shares of company stock valued at $1,604,077. Insiders own 7.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NGS. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 831.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,776 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 11,404 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 98,479 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after acquiring an additional 5,125 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 2.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 57,251 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the second quarter valued at about $819,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $210,000. Institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

Natural Gas Services Group Company Profile

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc (NYSE: NGS) is an energy infrastructure company specializing in natural gas distribution and compression services across the United States. The company operates two primary lines of business: the Distribution segment provides natural gas delivery to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while the Compression Services segment rents, sells and services a diversified fleet of compression equipment for midstream and industrial applications.

In its Distribution segment, Natural Gas Services Group engineers, constructs and maintains local pipeline networks, meters and related apparatus to ensure safe and reliable natural gas supply to municipal utilities and private customers.