Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

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 $38.67 and traded as high as $39.63. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $39.40, with a volume of 98,412 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NGS. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.67. The stock has a market cap of $496.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91 and a beta of 0.40.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. The firm had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.09 million. On average, analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NGS. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter worth about $106,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter worth about $114,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,602 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.