21,662 Shares in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. $NGS Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 21,662 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $818,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter worth about $16,777,000. Cannell Capital LLC increased its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 279.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 331,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,559,000 after acquiring an additional 244,193 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,591,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 133.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 169,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,731,000 after acquiring an additional 96,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 425.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 105,842 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,562,000 after acquiring an additional 85,682 shares during the period. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 3.8%

NGS stock opened at $39.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.08. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.72 and a 52 week high of $44.60. The company has a market cap of $496.11 million, a P/E ratio of 22.89 and a beta of 0.40.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.09 million. On average, research analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on NGS shares. Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natural Gas Services Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group 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.