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

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $36.13 and traded as high as $42.31. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $40.97, with a volume of 102,840 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NGS shares. 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. Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 4.3%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.70 and a 200 day moving average of $36.13. The stock has a market cap of $516.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.99% and a net margin of 12.17%.The company had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.09 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is 34.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Natural Gas Services Group news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total transaction of $2,630,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at $7,720,134.56. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 106.7% during the third 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 last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

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.