Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Navigator Holdings Ltd. $NVGS

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) by 55.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 635,601 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 801,616 shares during the quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.92% of Navigator worth $11,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its stake in Navigator by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 1,430,009 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $24,768,000 after purchasing an additional 311,259 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Navigator by 1.1% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 697,119 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $10,798,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Navigator by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 553,323 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,584,000 after purchasing an additional 131,351 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Navigator by 16.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 542,756 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $7,224,000 after purchasing an additional 76,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Navigator by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 507,779 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,795,000 after purchasing an additional 114,532 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

Navigator Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NVGS opened at $21.96 on Thursday. Navigator Holdings Ltd. has a twelve month low of $13.90 and a twelve month high of $24.36. The company has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.44. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.79.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The shipping company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. Navigator had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The business had revenue of $140.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $139.35 million. As a group, analysts expect that Navigator Holdings Ltd. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVGS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Navigator from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Navigator from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Navigator from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Navigator presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.33.

Insider Transactions at Navigator

In other news, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 6,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.70, for a total value of $135,820.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $118,150. The trade was a 83.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.40% 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).