Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Hold”

Zacks Research cut shares of Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on NGS. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Natural Gas Services Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

Natural Gas Services Group stock opened at $37.74 on Thursday. Natural Gas Services Group has a 12-month low of $24.13 and a 12-month high of $44.60. The company has a market capitalization of $486.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.96.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $51.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.24 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 8.10%. On average, research analysts forecast that Natural Gas Services Group will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. R Squared Ltd increased its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 10,594 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,818 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. 65.62% of the stock is 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.