Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Shares in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. $NGS

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 89,710 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,870,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NGS. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Natural Gas Services Group Price Performance

Shares of Natural Gas Services Group stock opened at $35.20 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $454.08 million, a P/E ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.02. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.53 and a 52-week high of $44.60.

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

Natural Gas Services Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on NGS shares. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Natural Gas Services Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.50.

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.