Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

NVGS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th.

Navigator Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE NVGS opened at $21.39 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.46. Navigator has a 12 month low of $14.08 and a 12 month high of $24.36.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $140.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $139.35 million. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. Equities research analysts forecast that Navigator will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of Navigator stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Schroder sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total transaction of $590,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,150. This trade represents a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVGS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Navigator by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,680 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Navigator by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,696 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Navigator by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in Navigator by 3.7% in the third quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,394 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Navigator by 8.0% in the third quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 18,194 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

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).