Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $29.35 and traded as high as $36.73. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $36.3950, with a volume of 265,338 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NGS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research cut Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Up 4.7%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $457.49 million, a PE ratio of 24.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.13. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 11.20%.The company had revenue of $43.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.25 million. Equities analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is 29.73%.

Insider Activity at Natural Gas Services Group

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total value of $642,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 295,432 shares in the company, valued at $9,489,275.84. The trade was a 6.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jean K. Holley purchased 2,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.04 per share, for a total transaction of $70,167.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $461,055.60. This trade represents a 17.95% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $1,277,100. Insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 105.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 731 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at $106,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $210,000. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Natural Gas Services Group Company Profile

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.