Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

NVGS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Navigator in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th.

Institutional Trading of Navigator

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Navigator by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 76,496 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 25,756 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Navigator by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 402,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,772,000 after buying an additional 209,760 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Navigator by 242.1% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,661 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 10,376 shares in the last quarter. Monashee Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Navigator in the 1st quarter worth $1,450,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Navigator in the 1st quarter worth $660,000. Institutional investors own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

Navigator Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Navigator stock opened at $23.63 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.87. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.45. Navigator has a 1-year low of $13.50 and a 1-year high of $23.68.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $139.35 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Navigator will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. Navigator’s payout ratio is currently 17.18%.

About Navigator

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).