Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a strong sell rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as high as $43.96 and last traded at $43.7810, with a volume of 23511 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.40.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total value of $1,116,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 175,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,531,333.36. This represents a 14.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NGS. R Squared Ltd increased its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 10,594 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,602 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.53. The company has a market cap of $547.52 million, a PE ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.99% and a net margin of 12.17%. Research analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is presently 34.88%.

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.