Short Interest in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) Rises By 24.1%

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,552,333 shares, a growth of 24.1% from the February 26th total of 3,668,001 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,837,031 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,219,557 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,124,870,000 after purchasing an additional 414,022 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Cheniere Energy by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,174,695 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,200,299,000 after purchasing an additional 167,622 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cheniere Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $731,774,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheniere Energy by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,279,078 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $443,031,000 after buying an additional 253,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cheniere Energy by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,263,826 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $440,047,000 after buying an additional 134,695 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $282.00 to $271.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on Cheniere Energy from $277.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Cheniere Energy from $296.00 to $322.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cheniere Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.00.

Cheniere Energy Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of LNG traded down $3.51 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $293.40. 3,399,852 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,739,178. The business has a fifty day moving average of $235.12 and a 200-day moving average of $220.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.25. Cheniere Energy has a 1-year low of $186.20 and a 1-year high of $300.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $10.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $6.78. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.48 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 26.68% and a return on equity of 32.04%. Cheniere Energy’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Cheniere Energy will post 11.69 EPS for the current year.

Cheniere Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.555 per share. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is currently 9.14%.

Cheniere Energy announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to reacquire up to 21.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Cheniere Energy

Cheniere Energy, Inc is a U.S.-based energy company that develops, owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and markets LNG to global customers. The company’s core activities include natural gas liquefaction, long‑term and short‑term LNG sales and marketing, and the associated midstream services required to move gas from production basins to international markets. Cheniere focuses on converting domestic natural gas into LNG for export, providing a bridge between North American supply and overseas demand.

Cheniere’s principal operating assets are large-scale LNG export terminals located on the U.S.