First Manhattan CO. LLC. Has $24.77 Million Position in Navigator Holdings Ltd. $NVGS

First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its stake in shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) by 27.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,430,009 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 311,259 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Navigator were worth $24,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NVGS. California State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Navigator during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Navigator by 1,124.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,677 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,540 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Navigator by 2,794.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,055 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Navigator during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Navigator during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. 18.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NVGS. Weiss Ratings cut Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Navigator has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.33.

Navigator Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE NVGS opened at $21.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.16. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a 52 week low of $13.90 and a 52 week high of $24.36.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $139.35 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Navigator’s payout ratio is presently 17.18%.

Insider Activity at Navigator

In other Navigator news, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total value of $590,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $118,150. The trade was a 83.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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).