LSV Asset Management Takes Position in Navigator Holdings Ltd. $NVGS

LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 179,457 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,108,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Navigator in the third quarter valued at approximately $597,000. Teton Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Navigator in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,320,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Navigator by 165.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 210,797 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,265,000 after buying an additional 131,359 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in shares of Navigator by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 455,500 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,889,000 after buying an additional 40,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Navigator by 1.1% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 697,119 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,798,000 after buying an additional 7,574 shares in the last quarter. 18.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVGS. Weiss Ratings lowered Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Zacks Research lowered Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Five 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Navigator Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVGS opened at $23.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.45. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a 1 year low of $13.66 and a 1 year high of $24.36.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.35 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Navigator’s payout ratio is 17.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Navigator news, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total transaction of $590,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,150. The trade was a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% 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).