Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This is a 14.3% increase from Navigator’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07.

Navigator has a payout ratio of 17.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Navigator to earn $1.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.1%.

Navigator Price Performance

Shares of NVGS opened at $20.19 on Wednesday. Navigator has a fifty-two week low of $16.12 and a fifty-two week high of $25.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shipping company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $155.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.87 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 22.80%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Navigator will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on NVGS shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Navigator in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Navigator currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.00.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd., operating under the name Navigator Gas, is a maritime transportation company that owns and operates a fleet of specialized gas carriers. The company transports liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrochemical gases such as ethylene and ethane, ammonia and other liquefied gases for energy, industrial and chemical customers.

Its fleet includes semi-refrigerated and fully pressurized vessels, as well as ethylene-capable carriers designed to handle cargoes requiring specialized containment and temperature controls.