Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $40.89 and last traded at $40.3950, with a volume of 20399 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NGS. Raymond James Financial lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Up 1.0%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $517.63 million, a PE ratio of 26.19 and a beta of 0.39.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.05). Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 11.56%.The company had revenue of $46.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.81 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is presently 28.03%.

Insider Activity at Natural Gas Services Group

In related news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total transaction of $2,630,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,720,134.56. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 611,653 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 7,345 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 509,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $13,156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,424 shares in the last quarter. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter worth $16,777,000. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 361,571 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,120,000 after purchasing an additional 8,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cannell Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 8.3% during the third quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 359,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,049,000 after purchasing an additional 27,405 shares in the last quarter. 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.