Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $23.00

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.00.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NVGS. Wall Street Zen raised Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research lowered Navigator from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Navigator from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Insider Activity

In other Navigator news, insider Oeyvind Lindeman sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.68, for a total transaction of $162,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,093.28. This trade represents a 50.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Peter George Charles An Stokes sold 5,000 shares of Navigator stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.28, for a total transaction of $101,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,134.80. This trade represents a 41.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Navigator

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. 683 Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Navigator by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC now owns 186,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,222,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the period. 1492 Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Navigator by 4.2% in the first quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC now owns 178,024 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,441,000 after purchasing an additional 7,150 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Navigator by 30.5% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 30,779 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 7,185 shares during the last quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC increased its stake in Navigator by 72.3% in the second quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 18,797 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 7,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its position in Navigator by 242.1% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,661 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 10,376 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.95% of the company’s stock.

Navigator Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Navigator stock opened at $23.90 on Monday. Navigator has a 1 year low of $14.08 and a 1 year high of $25.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The shipping company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $167.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.46 million. Navigator had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 22.80%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Navigator will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio is 12.90%.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NVGS), operating under the Navigator Gas name, is a maritime transportation company focused on the international seaborne shipment of liquefied gases. The company owns and operates a fleet of gas carriers that transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethylene, ammonia and other petrochemical gases.

Navigator’s vessels serve energy, petrochemical and industrial customers across major global trade routes. Its fleet includes ethylene-capable vessels, handysize gas carriers and larger liquefied gas carriers, allowing the company to transport cargoes between production centers, export terminals and importing markets.

In addition to its shipping operations, Navigator has invested in related midstream infrastructure.