Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08, FiscalAI reports. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 11.56%.The company had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.09 million.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Up 3.4%

Natural Gas Services Group stock traded up $1.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $40.08. The stock had a trading volume of 75,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 119,071. 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 stock has a market cap of $504.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53 and a beta of 0.43. Natural Gas Services Group has a one year low of $21.23 and a one year high of $41.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Natural Gas Services Group news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total value of $2,630,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,720,134.56. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 11.4% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $266,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $244,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $239,000. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the second quarter valued at about $231,000. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.