Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Share Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s share price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $37.01 and traded as high as $43.85. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $42.5250, with a volume of 99,635 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NGS. Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $535.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.01.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from Natural Gas Services Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is 34.88%.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 106.7% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,100 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at $106,000. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at $114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

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.