Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $40.89 and last traded at $40.3950, with a volume of 20399 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Up 2.8%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.22. The company has a market cap of $514.11 million, a P/E ratio of 25.98 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $46.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.81 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 11.56%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is 28.03%.

Insider Activity at Natural Gas Services Group

In related news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of Natural Gas Services Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total value of $2,630,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 205,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,720,134.56. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 7.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 611,653 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after buying an additional 7,345 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 509,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,156,000 after acquiring an additional 2,424 shares in the last quarter. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,777,000. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 361,571 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,120,000 after acquiring an additional 8,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cannell Capital LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.