Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $27.50 and traded as high as $34.02. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $33.4560, with a volume of 54,983 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NGS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 1.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $420.54 million, a PE ratio of 22.61 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.51.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $43.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.25 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 7.37%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a positive change from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is 29.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jean K. Holley purchased 2,190 shares of Natural Gas Services Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $32.04 per share, for a total transaction of $70,167.60. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,390 shares in the company, valued at $461,055.60. This represents a 17.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.16, for a total value of $331,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 285,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,464,925.12. The trade was a 3.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 51,252 shares of company stock valued at $1,604,077. Insiders own 5.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NGS. Acuitas Investments LLC grew its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 8.2% in the third quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 216,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,065,000 after acquiring an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 20.8% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 94,239 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,638,000 after purchasing an additional 16,253 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 133.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 130.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 24,847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $695,000 after buying an additional 14,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cannell Capital LLC raised its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 8.3% during the third quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 359,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,049,000 after buying an additional 27,405 shares in 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.