Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $28.90 and traded as high as $34.87. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $34.4350, with a volume of 169,043 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NGS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Up 3.2%

The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.23 and its 200-day moving average is $28.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $432.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 0.42.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $43.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.25 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 7.37%. Equities analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jean K. Holley bought 2,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.04 per share, for a total transaction of $70,167.60. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 14,390 shares in the company, valued at $461,055.60. This trade represents a 17.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total transaction of $642,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 295,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,489,275.84. This trade represents a 6.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,252 shares of company stock valued at $1,604,077. Corporate insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 105.5% in the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 106.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,100 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $106,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $210,000. 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.