Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $44.27 and last traded at $44.0310, with a volume of 50748 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $43.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NGS. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Natural Gas Services Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.52. The stock has a market cap of $553.62 million, a P/E ratio of 25.55 and a beta of 0.41.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.09 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NGS. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at $106,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at $114,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

Natural Gas Services Group Company Profile

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.