Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

NVGS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th.

Navigator Stock Performance

Shares of NVGS stock opened at $21.88 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.41. Navigator has a 12 month low of $13.66 and a 12 month high of $24.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%.The firm had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.35 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Navigator will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total transaction of $590,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $118,150. This trade represents a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVGS. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Navigator during the second quarter worth about $5,677,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Navigator by 62.7% in the first quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,034,216 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $19,991,000 after purchasing an additional 398,615 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Navigator in the third quarter worth approximately $6,091,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Navigator in the second quarter worth approximately $4,773,000. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its holdings in Navigator by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 1,430,009 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,768,000 after purchasing an additional 311,259 shares in the last quarter. 18.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd. is a global shipping company specializing in the seaborne transportation of liquefied gases. The company’s fleet is purpose-built to carry a range of petrochemical gases, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethylene, propylene and ammonia. Navigator’s vessels are designed to meet the stringent safety and environmental standards required for handling pressurized and refrigerated gases, offering flexible capacity to customers across the energy and chemical sectors.

Navigator operates one of the largest and most modern fleets of gas carriers in the industry, with vessels ranging from fully pressurized gas carriers to specialized very large ethane carriers (VLECs).