Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

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

Navigator Stock Performance

NVGS stock opened at $20.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.44. Navigator has a 12-month low of $13.90 and a 12-month high of $24.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.95.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.35 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Navigator will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navigator

In other news, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total transaction of $590,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $118,150. This represents a 83.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Navigator in the 2nd quarter worth $5,677,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Navigator by 62.7% in the 1st 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Navigator in the 3rd quarter worth $6,091,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Navigator in the 2nd quarter worth $4,773,000. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in shares of Navigator by 27.8% in the 4th 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 owned by institutional investors.

Navigator Company Profile

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).