Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) Insider Oeyvind Lindeman Sells 6,259 Shares

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total transaction of $135,820.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Navigator Stock Performance

NYSE NVGS opened at $22.21 on Wednesday. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a 1 year low of $13.66 and a 1 year high of $24.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.41.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The business had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.35 million. Analysts predict that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Navigator by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 324,935 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 12,256 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Navigator by 62.7% during the 1st quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,034,216 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $19,991,000 after purchasing an additional 398,615 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Navigator by 50.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 76,496 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 25,756 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Navigator by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 402,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,772,000 after purchasing an additional 209,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Navigator by 242.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,661 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 10,376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVGS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research cut shares of Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.33.

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).