Navigator Holdings Ltd. $NVGS Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) by 109.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 402,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 209,760 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.65% of Navigator worth $7,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Navigator by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,680 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Navigator by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,696 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,334 shares during the period. 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NVGS shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. 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 report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Navigator currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.33.

Navigator Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVGS opened at $22.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $21.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.53. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $14.08 and a fifty-two week 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.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%.The business had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.35 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Announces Dividend

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

About Navigator

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).