Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives $23.33 Average PT from Analysts

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVGS. Citigroup boosted their target price on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research raised Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th.

Navigator Stock Performance

NYSE:NVGS opened at $21.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.46. Navigator has a twelve month low of $14.08 and a twelve month high of $24.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $140.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.35 million. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Navigator will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navigator

In related news, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total transaction of $590,750.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,150. The trade was a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NVGS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Navigator by 165.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 210,797 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,265,000 after buying an additional 131,359 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Navigator by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 553,323 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,584,000 after buying an additional 131,351 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its holdings in Navigator by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 1,430,009 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $24,768,000 after acquiring an additional 311,259 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Navigator in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,108,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in Navigator by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 455,500 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,889,000 after acquiring an additional 40,500 shares during the period. 18.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd. is a global shipping company specializing in the seaborne transportation of liquefied gases. The company’s fleet is purpose-built to carry a range of petrochemical gases, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethylene, propylene and ammonia. Navigator’s vessels are designed to meet the stringent safety and environmental standards required for handling pressurized and refrigerated gases, offering flexible capacity to customers across the energy and chemical sectors.

Navigator operates one of the largest and most modern fleets of gas carriers in the industry, with vessels ranging from fully pressurized gas carriers to specialized very large ethane carriers (VLECs).