Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) announced its earnings results on Monday. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.05), FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $46.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.81 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 11.20%.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

NYSE:NGS traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $36.69. 120,605 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 136,387. 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 has a 52-week low of $16.73 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $461.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.79 and a beta of 0.34. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.66.

Natural Gas Services Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders 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 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is currently 29.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NGS shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of Natural Gas Services Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total transaction of $2,630,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,720,134.56. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cannell Capital LLC lifted its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 279.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 331,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,559,000 after acquiring an additional 244,193 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,591,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 133.7% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 169,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,731,000 after purchasing an additional 96,690 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 425.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 105,842 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,562,000 after purchasing an additional 85,682 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 133.2% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 91,243 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,355,000 after purchasing an additional 52,115 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.