Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Sets New 52-Week High Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $42.87 and last traded at $41.4240, with a volume of 6987 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.14.

The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08. The firm 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 11.56% and a return on equity of 7.43%.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is currently 28.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NGS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective 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 stock 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 note on Tuesday, March 24th. Three 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, Natural Gas Services Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the director owned 205,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,720,134.56. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NGS. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV bought a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,777,000. Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,470,000. Acuitas Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 216,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,065,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the period. Cannell Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 359,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,049,000 after buying an additional 27,405 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at $698,000. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $526.77 million, a P/E ratio of 26.62 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.56 and its 200 day moving average is $34.90.

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.