Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $38.67 and traded as high as $39.63. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $39.40, with a volume of 98,412 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on NGS. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $496.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.67.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. R Squared Ltd lifted its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 4.9% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 10,594 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,602 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,165 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Natural Gas Services Group

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.