Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $28.90 and traded as high as $34.87. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $34.4350, with a volume of 169,043 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.90. The company has a market capitalization of $432.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its quarterly 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. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The business had revenue of $43.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.25 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is 29.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natural Gas Services Group news, Director Jean K. Holley bought 2,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.04 per share, with a total value of $70,167.60. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 14,390 shares in the company, valued at $461,055.60. The trade was a 17.95% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total value of $642,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 295,432 shares in the company, valued at $9,489,275.84. This represents a 6.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 51,252 shares of company stock worth $1,604,077 in the last quarter. 5.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 105.5% during the second quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 106.7% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,100 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter worth about $106,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $210,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.