Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $37.01 and traded as high as $43.85. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $42.5250, with a volume of 99,635 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on NGS. Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on 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 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $535.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $47.09 million. Equities research analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. 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. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 831.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,776 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 11,404 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 98,479 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,164,000 after buying an additional 5,125 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 230,817 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,958,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 44.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 33,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 10,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 52.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 16,770 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 5,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.