Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. $NGS is Acuitas Investments LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Acuitas Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 216,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the quarter. Natural Gas Services Group makes up approximately 2.6% of Acuitas Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Acuitas Investments LLC’s holdings in Natural Gas Services Group were worth $6,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake 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 period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 106.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,100 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $210,000. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the second quarter worth approximately $225,000. 65.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natural Gas Services Group

In other Natural Gas Services Group news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total value of $642,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 295,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,489,275.84. This represents a 6.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jean K. Holley acquired 2,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.04 per share, for a total transaction of $70,167.60. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 14,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $461,055.60. The trade was a 17.95% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,252 shares of company stock worth $1,604,077. Insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Natural Gas Services Group Price Performance

NYSE NGS opened at $34.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $432.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.90. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.73 and a 1 year high of $35.57.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $43.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.25 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 7.37%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a boost from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NGS has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial cut Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natural Gas Services Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

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.