Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NVGS. Zacks Research raised Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th.

Navigator Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE NVGS opened at $21.78 on Wednesday. Navigator has a 1-year low of $14.08 and a 1-year high of $24.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $21.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.36, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.46.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $140.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.35 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%. As a group, research analysts expect that Navigator will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Navigator Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Navigator’s payout ratio is currently 17.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Navigator news, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total value of $590,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $118,150. The trade was a 83.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Institutional Trading of Navigator

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVGS. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Navigator by 1,124.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,677 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in Navigator in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Navigator by 2,794.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,055 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Navigator in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in Navigator in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. 18.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Navigator Company Profile

Navigator Holdings Ltd. is a global shipping company specializing in the seaborne transportation of liquefied gases. The company’s fleet is purpose-built to carry a range of petrochemical gases, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethylene, propylene and ammonia. Navigator’s vessels are designed to meet the stringent safety and environmental standards required for handling pressurized and refrigerated gases, offering flexible capacity to customers across the energy and chemical sectors.

Navigator operates one of the largest and most modern fleets of gas carriers in the industry, with vessels ranging from fully pressurized gas carriers to specialized very large ethane carriers (VLECs).