Short Interest in Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Declines By 20.8%

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 345,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the June 30th total of 435,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 238,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Navigator

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVGS. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Navigator in the fourth quarter valued at about $383,000. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Navigator by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 41,708 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 8,114 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Navigator in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Navigator in the fourth quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Navigator in the fourth quarter valued at about $437,000. 18.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Navigator from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st.

Navigator Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE NVGS traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.23. 92,942 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 178,714. Navigator has a 12 month low of $12.80 and a 12 month high of $18.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87 and a beta of 1.51.

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The shipping company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. Navigator had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 15.68%. The company had revenue of $119.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.51 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Navigator will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Navigator Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Navigator’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.09%.

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.