Empowered Funds LLC Purchases New Position in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. $NGS

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC acquired 89,710 shares of Natural Gas Services Group worth approximately $3.87 million, representing about 0.70% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 65.62% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with three Buy ratings and one Hold rating, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $50.50.
• Natural Gas Services Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.47 in EPS versus a $0.40 estimate and $51.40 million in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, or $0.60 annually, yielding about 1.7%.

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 89,710 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $3,870,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.70% of Natural Gas Services Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Natural Gas Services Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the 4th quarter valued at $114,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,602 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. 65.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Natural Gas Services Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Three equities research 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 company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.50.

Natural Gas Services Group Stock Performance

NGS stock opened at $35.20 on Wednesday. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.53 and a 12 month high of $44.60. The firm's 50-day moving average is $38.04 and its 200 day moving average is $39.02. The company has a market capitalization of $454.08 million, a PE ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $51.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $50.24 million. Natural Gas Services Group had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 8.10%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Natural Gas Services Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.27%.

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.

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