Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Down 0.6%

Natural Gas Services Group stock opened at $43.46 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $547.52 million, a PE ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 0.43. Natural Gas Services Group has a 12 month low of $22.72 and a 12 month high of $44.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $48.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.99% and a net margin of 12.17%. On average, analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Natural Gas Services Group

In other Natural Gas Services Group news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total value of $1,116,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 175,432 shares in the company, valued at $6,531,333.36. This represents a 14.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV purchased a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at $16,777,000. Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,470,000. Acuitas Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 216,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,065,000 after purchasing an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. Cannell Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 359,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,049,000 after purchasing an additional 27,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at $698,000. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.