Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Stock Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $38.67 and traded as high as $39.63. Natural Gas Services Group shares last traded at $39.40, with a volume of 98,412 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NGS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natural Gas Services Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Down 1.7%

The firm has a market cap of $490.05 million, a PE ratio of 22.61 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.71. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.09 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. Analysts forecast that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natural Gas Services Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 611,653 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after acquiring an additional 7,345 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 509,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $13,156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,424 shares in the last quarter. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV acquired a new position in Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,777,000. Cannell Capital LLC raised its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 279.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 331,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,559,000 after purchasing an additional 244,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 247,201 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,321,000 after purchasing an additional 8,304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

Natural Gas Services Group Company Profile

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.