USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Shares gapped down Tuesday, opening at $27.16 after a $28.17 close and last trading around $27.38; the stock sits above its 50‑day ($26.88) and 200‑day ($24.83) moving averages with a market cap of about $3.95 billion.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed — MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" (2 Strong Buy, 3 Hold, 1 Sell) with an average target of $26.67, slightly below the current price.
• USA Compression pays a high quarterly dividend (annualized $2.10, a 7.7% yield), but the payout ratio is an elevated 250% and the company reported a negative return on equity; quarterly EPS of $0.28 met estimates while revenue slightly missed consensus.

Shares of USA Compression Partners, LP (NYSE:USAC - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $28.17, but opened at $27.16. USA Compression Partners shares last traded at $27.3840, with a volume of 1,112 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded USA Compression Partners from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on USA Compression Partners from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered USA Compression Partners from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of USA Compression Partners in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on USA Compression Partners from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.67.

USA Compression Partners Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 32.47 and a beta of 0.22.

USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The oil and gas company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28. USA Compression Partners had a negative return on equity of 87.34% and a net margin of 11.15%.The firm had revenue of $252.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $253.43 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that USA Compression Partners, LP will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

USA Compression Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 6th. Investors of record on Monday, January 26th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 26th. USA Compression Partners's payout ratio is 250.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On USA Compression Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in USA Compression Partners by 9.6% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 17,105,738 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $410,538,000 after buying an additional 1,500,640 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in USA Compression Partners by 123.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,712,603 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $62,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498,928 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in USA Compression Partners by 82.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,863,377 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $77,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,339 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in USA Compression Partners by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,599,073 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $105,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in USA Compression Partners by 14.1% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,305,265 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $128,971,000 after purchasing an additional 654,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.77% of the company's stock.

USA Compression Partners Company Profile

USA Compression Partners NYSE: USAC is a Houston-based master limited partnership specializing in natural gas compression services for oil and gas producers. The company offers a full suite of midstream compression solutions designed to enhance production flow and optimize field operations. Its core activities include the design, engineering, fabrication, installation, operation and maintenance of natural gas compression equipment onshore across key U.S. basins.

USA Compression's product and service offerings encompass new equipment deployment, aftermarket parts and component sales, field service support, and instrumentation and control systems.

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