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

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.60.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Navigator in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its position in Navigator by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 1,034,596 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,881,000 after buying an additional 207,851 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its position in Navigator by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,001,114 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,367,000 after buying an additional 102,711 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its position in Navigator by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 852,608 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $13,088,000 after buying an additional 57,966 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Navigator by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 686,148 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,532,000 after buying an additional 136,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Sabrepoint Capital Management LP increased its position in Navigator by 266.4% during the 4th quarter. First Sabrepoint Capital Management LP now owns 682,516 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,477,000 after buying an additional 496,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

Navigator Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NVGS stock opened at $13.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 1.39. Navigator has a 1-year low of $13.47 and a 1-year high of $18.18. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.96 and a 200 day moving average of $15.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The shipping company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Navigator had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business had revenue of $144.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.87 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Navigator will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, March 24th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 24th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.67%.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd. engages in owning and operating a fleet of liquefied gas carriers worldwide. It provides international and regional seaborne transportation services of petrochemical gases, liquefied petroleum gases, and ammonia for energy companies, industrial users, and commodity traders. The company also offers ship shore infrastructure and consultancy services.