Stifel Nicolaus Issues Positive Forecast for Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Price

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $39.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.35% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on NGS. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

Shares of Natural Gas Services Group stock traded up $0.39 on Friday, reaching $39.87. 48,813 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 139,821. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.27 and a 200 day moving average of $31.90. Natural Gas Services Group has a 52 week low of $16.73 and a 52 week high of $40.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $502.01 million, a PE ratio of 25.34 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $46.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.81 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 7.43%. Equities analysts forecast that Natural Gas Services Group will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.58, for a total transaction of $2,630,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 205,432 shares in the company, valued at $7,720,134.56. This represents a 25.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 103.8% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 75,284 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 38,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 151.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 153,361 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,958,000 after buying an additional 92,444 shares in the last quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $6,065,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. Cannell Capital LLC boosted its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 8.3% in the third quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 359,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,049,000 after buying an additional 27,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weber Capital Management LLC ADV bought a new position in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,777,000. 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.