Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $44.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Natural Gas Services Group traded as high as $40.73 and last traded at $39.8710, with a volume of 43572 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $39.48.

A number of other research firms have also commented on NGS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natural Gas Services Group

In other Natural Gas Services Group news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total transaction of $1,116,900.00. Following the sale, the director owned 175,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,531,333.36. The trade was a 14.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 831.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,776 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 11,404 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 98,479 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,164,000 after purchasing an additional 5,125 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 230,817 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,958,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 44.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 33,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 10,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, White Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 52,623 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Down 1.2%

The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $491.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.36 and its 200 day moving average is $31.99.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $46.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.81 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 7.43%. On average, equities analysts predict that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.03%.

About Natural Gas Services Group

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.