USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC) Stock Price Crosses Below 200 Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• USA Compression Partners shares fell below their 200-day moving average, trading as low as $25.05 versus the $26.76 average, signaling recent technical weakness.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly neutral: the consensus rating is “Hold” from six analysts, with a $29.50 target price. RBC raised its target to $31, while Zacks Research and Wall Street Zen shifted their ratings to Hold.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.31, beating estimates, and declared a $0.525 quarterly dividend, equal to a 8.4% annualized yield; however, its payout ratio is high at 198.11%.

USA Compression Partners, LP (NYSE:USAC - Get Free Report)'s stock price crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $26.76 and traded as low as $25.05. USA Compression Partners shares last traded at $25.05, with a volume of 214,468 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on USAC. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on USA Compression Partners from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research raised USA Compression Partners from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of USA Compression Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.50.

USA Compression Partners Stock Performance

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $26.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.25.

USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $342.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $340.49 million. USA Compression Partners had a return on equity of 179.77% and a net margin of 12.43%. On average, equities research analysts expect that USA Compression Partners, LP will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

USA Compression Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.5250 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.4%. USA Compression Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 198.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at USA Compression Partners

In other USA Compression Partners news, Director Bradford Whitehurst bought 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.10 per share, with a total value of $156,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 43,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,377.60. This trade represents a 15.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On USA Compression Partners

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of USAC. First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new stake in USA Compression Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $117,000. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in USA Compression Partners during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. TSA Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of USA Compression Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $236,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of USA Compression Partners in the 2nd quarter worth $238,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of USA Compression Partners by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,231 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 3,704 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.77% of the company's stock.

USA Compression Partners Company Profile

USA Compression Partners LP NYSE: USAC is a master limited partnership that provides natural gas compression services in the United States. The company owns and operates a fleet of natural gas compression equipment and supplies compression to producers, processors, gatherers and pipeline operators under primarily fee-based contracts.

Its services support several stages of the natural gas value chain, including the gathering and processing of natural gas, transportation through interstate and intrastate pipelines, and natural gas storage.

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