Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives $23.33 Average PT from Brokerages

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th.

Navigator Price Performance

NYSE NVGS opened at $18.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Navigator has a 12 month low of $14.08 and a 12 month high of $24.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.99.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $140.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.35 million. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio is 17.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $118,150. This represents a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Navigator by 16.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 542,756 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,224,000 after acquiring an additional 76,287 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Navigator by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 50,885 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 7,777 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Navigator by 674.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 85,843 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,143,000 after purchasing an additional 74,762 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Navigator during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,677,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Navigator by 118.1% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 79,438 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 43,008 shares during the period. 18.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).