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

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $44.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Natural Gas Services Group traded as high as $40.73 and last traded at $39.8710, with a volume of 43572 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.48.

NGS has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research cut Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Insider Transactions at Natural Gas Services Group

In related news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total transaction of $1,116,900.00. Following the sale, the director 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 103.8% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 75,284 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 38,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 151.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 153,361 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,958,000 after buying an additional 92,444 shares in the last quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC grew its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 8.2% during the third quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 216,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,065,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Cannell Capital LLC increased its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 359,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,049,000 after buying an additional 27,405 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $243,000. 65.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 1.2%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $491.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85 and a beta of 0.34.

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

Natural Gas Services Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is presently 28.03%.

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.