Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Increases Stock Position in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. $NGS

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital increased its Natural Gas Services Group stake by 254.2% in the first quarter, adding 70,233 shares to own 97,866 shares worth approximately $3.7 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 65.62% of NGS.
• Analysts remain bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $50.50. Raymond James, Stifel Nicolaus and Zacks Research recently raised their ratings or price targets.
• NGS beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting EPS of $0.53 versus $0.45 expected and revenue of $48.47 million. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15, equivalent to a 1.6% annual yield.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS - Free Report) by 254.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 97,866 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after buying an additional 70,233 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.78% of Natural Gas Services Group worth $3,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NGS. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 86.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,674 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $1,724,000 after buying an additional 21,189 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 1st quarter worth about $2,312,000. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group by 197.7% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 18,540 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 12,313 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 95,419 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC raised its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 26,046 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 5,292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.62% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NGS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Natural Gas Services Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $50.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

NGS opened at $36.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.05 and a 52-week high of $44.60. The company has a market cap of $459.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $40.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.82.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 12.17% and a return on equity of 7.99%. The firm had revenue of $48.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.09 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natural Gas Services Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. This is a boost from Natural Gas Services Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Natural Gas Services Group's dividend payout ratio is 34.88%.

Natural Gas Services Group 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.

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