Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 on August 18th

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the energy company on Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th.

Cheniere Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 105.9% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Cheniere Energy to earn $12.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.2%.

Cheniere Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LNG opened at $235.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $52.14 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $232.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.49. Cheniere Energy has a one year low of $160.75 and a one year high of $257.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The energy company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.81 by ($1.24). The business had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 18.37% and a return on equity of 32.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cheniere Energy will post 11.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LNG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $252.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cheniere Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $243.00 to $242.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Cheniere Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $255.00 to $247.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.23.

Insider Activity at Cheniere Energy

In related news, Director Neal A. Shear sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.93, for a total transaction of $1,057,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,733 shares in the company, valued at $7,312,236.69. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Cheniere Energy stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,558 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000. 87.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cheniere Energy

Cheniere Energy, Inc, an energy infrastructure company, primarily engages in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) related businesses in the United States. It owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana; and the Corpus Christi LNG terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas. The company also owns Creole Trail pipeline, a 94-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal with several interstate and intrastate pipelines; and operates Corpus Christi pipeline, a 21.5-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Corpus Christi LNG terminal with various interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines.