Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Releases Earnings Results

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) announced its earnings results on Monday. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 7.43%.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Up 3.6%

NYSE:NGS opened at $41.57 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Natural Gas Services Group has a 1-year low of $21.23 and a 1-year high of $41.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $523.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.90.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This is a positive change from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is currently 28.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on 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. Zacks Research lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Natural Gas Services Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Insider Activity at Natural Gas Services Group

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total value of $1,116,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 175,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,531,333.36. This represents a 14.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NGS. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 831.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,776 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 11,404 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 98,479 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after buying an additional 5,125 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 230,817 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,958,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 44.8% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 33,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $877,000 after buying an additional 10,525 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 52.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 16,770 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 5,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

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.