Royce & Associates LP Cuts Stock Position in Golar LNG Limited $GLNG

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) by 75.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,006 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 54,019 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Golar LNG were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLNG. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its position in Golar LNG by 2.3% in the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 9,178,978 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $378,082,000 after purchasing an additional 203,829 shares during the period. Cartenna Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Golar LNG by 13.2% in the third quarter. Cartenna Capital LP now owns 1,925,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $77,789,000 after buying an additional 225,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,914,741 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $78,868,000 after buying an additional 26,838 shares in the last quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Golar LNG by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP now owns 1,633,582 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $66,013,000 after buying an additional 421,375 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Golar LNG during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,574,000. 92.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Pareto Securities cut Golar LNG from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $56.00 target price on shares of Golar LNG in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Golar LNG from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Golar LNG in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Golar LNG in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.70.

Golar LNG Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GLNG opened at $49.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Golar LNG Limited has a fifty-two week low of $35.02 and a fifty-two week high of $57.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.12. The firm has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05 and a beta of 0.02.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The shipping company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $137.55 million for the quarter. Golar LNG had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 30.10%. Sell-side analysts expect that Golar LNG Limited will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Golar LNG Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio is 72.46%.

Golar LNG Company Profile

Golar LNG Ltd. is a leading owner and operator of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and floating infrastructure. The company specializes in the transportation of LNG on long-term and spot charters for major energy firms around the world. In addition to shipping, Golar LNG has broadened its services to include project development and the conversion of existing carriers into Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) and Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) vessels.

Since pioneering the first purpose-built FLNG conversion project, Golar LNG has been at the forefront of offshore gas monetization.