Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $43.96 and last traded at $43.7810, with a volume of 23511 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NGS shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.70. The company has a market capitalization of $552.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46 and a beta of 0.43.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. The company had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.09 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Natural Gas Services Group’s payout ratio is presently 25.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of Natural Gas Services Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 25.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NGS. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,777,000. Cannell Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 279.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 331,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,559,000 after purchasing an additional 244,193 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,591,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 133.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 169,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,731,000 after purchasing an additional 96,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 425.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 105,842 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,562,000 after purchasing an additional 85,682 shares during the last quarter. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.