Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 0.6%

Natural Gas Services Group stock opened at $43.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.70. Natural Gas Services Group has a 52-week low of $22.72 and a 52-week high of $44.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.53. The firm has a market cap of $547.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 0.43.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. The firm had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.09 million. Equities analysts predict that Natural Gas Services Group will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total value of $1,116,900.00. Following the sale, the director owned 175,432 shares in the company, valued at $6,531,333.36. This represents a 14.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 611,653 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after acquiring an additional 7,345 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 509,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $13,156,000 after buying an additional 2,424 shares during the last quarter. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter worth about $16,777,000. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 361,571 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,120,000 after buying an additional 8,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cannell Capital LLC boosted 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 worth $10,049,000 after buying an additional 27,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

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.