Navigator Holdings Ltd. $NVGS Shares Purchased by Hodges Capital Management Inc.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) by 19.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 661,790 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 108,467 shares during the quarter. Navigator comprises approximately 1.1% of Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Navigator were worth $12,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on NVGS. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $23.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Navigator

In other Navigator news, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $118,150. This represents a 83.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Navigator Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE NVGS opened at $19.12 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $14.08 and a fifty-two week high of $24.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.46.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The company had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.35 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).