Oeyvind Lindeman Sells 6,259 Shares of Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) Stock

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total transaction of $135,820.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Navigator Stock Down 1.5%

Navigator stock opened at $21.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.47. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a 52 week low of $13.66 and a 52 week high of $24.36.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.35 million. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. On average, analysts expect that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on NVGS. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVGS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Navigator by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,680 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Navigator by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,696 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Navigator by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Navigator by 3.7% in the third quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,394 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $579,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Navigator by 8.0% in the third quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 18,194 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

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).