Excelerate Energy (NYSE:EE) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Excelerate Energy (NYSE:EE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Excelerate Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Dnb Carnegie cut shares of Excelerate Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Excelerate Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Excelerate Energy from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Excelerate Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Excelerate Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Excelerate Energy Stock Up 4.3%

Shares of EE opened at $41.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a current ratio of 2.43. Excelerate Energy has a 52 week low of $21.28 and a 52 week high of $43.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.18.

Excelerate Energy (NYSE:EE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). Excelerate Energy had a return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 3.19%.The firm had revenue of $317.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Excelerate Energy will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Excelerate Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Excelerate Energy’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Excelerate Energy declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Excelerate Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arax Advisory Partners lifted its stake in shares of Excelerate Energy by 791.9% in the 4th quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Excelerate Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in Excelerate Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in Excelerate Energy in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Essex Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Excelerate Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors own 21.79% of the company’s stock.

Excelerate Energy Company Profile

Excelerate Energy (NYSE: EE) is a Houston‐based energy infrastructure company specializing in liquefied natural gas (LNG) solutions. The company develops, owns and operates floating regasification units (FSRUs) that convert shipped LNG into natural gas for delivery into existing pipeline networks. Excelerate Energy’s integrated platform also includes specialized LNG carriers, proprietary regasification technology and on‐shore support facilities, enabling rapid deployment of import terminals without extensive capital construction.

Founded in the early 2000s, Excelerate Energy pioneered the first FSRU in 2007, demonstrating the flexibility and cost advantages of floating LNG import infrastructure.