Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) posted its earnings results on Monday. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 12.17%.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Down 2.6%

Natural Gas Services Group stock traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $41.39. The stock had a trading volume of 54,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 119,450. Natural Gas Services Group has a one year low of $22.72 and a one year high of $43.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $521.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.00.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost 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%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is 28.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NGS has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Natural Gas Services Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total transaction of $2,630,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at $7,720,134.56. This trade represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NGS. Cannell Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 279.3% during the second quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 331,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,559,000 after acquiring an additional 244,193 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter worth about $3,591,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 133.7% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 169,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,731,000 after acquiring an additional 96,690 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 425.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 105,842 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,562,000 after acquiring an additional 85,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 133.2% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 91,243 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,355,000 after acquiring an additional 52,115 shares during the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by 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.