Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Natural Gas Services Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

NGS stock opened at $39.59 on Tuesday. Natural Gas Services Group has a 1 year low of $16.73 and a 1 year high of $40.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $498.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.35.

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

Natural Gas Services Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 28.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total value of $2,630,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at $7,720,134.56. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NGS. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,602 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. 65.62% of the stock is 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.