Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NVGS shares. Weiss Ratings cut Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research cut Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th.

Navigator Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NVGS stock opened at $21.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.41. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $13.66 and a fifty-two week high of $24.36.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $140.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $139.35 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 18.84%. Research analysts forecast that Navigator will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Navigator news, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,150. This trade represents a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Navigator by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,680 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Navigator by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,696 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Navigator by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Navigator by 3.7% during the third quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,394 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 1,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Navigator by 8.0% during the third quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 18,194 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.95% 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).