Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Acquires New Holdings in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. $NGS

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new position in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 43,343 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,870,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.34% of Natural Gas Services Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NGS. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,602 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 1.8%

NYSE:NGS opened at $37.55 on Wednesday. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.73 and a 1-year high of $44.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $484.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.04.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $51.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.24 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 10.81%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is currently 37.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on NGS. Weiss Ratings downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natural Gas Services Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

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.