Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Price Up 5.7% – Here’s Why

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s stock price rose 5.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $40.70 and last traded at $40.9830. Approximately 53,705 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 124,554 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NGS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.70. The stock has a market cap of $513.68 million, a PE ratio of 23.67 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This is a positive change from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NGS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 611,653 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 7,345 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 509,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,424 shares in the last quarter. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter worth about $16,777,000. Cannell Capital LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 27,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 247,201 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,321,000 after purchasing an additional 8,304 shares in the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Natural Gas Services Group Company 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.