Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) Receives $305.65 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $305.6471.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LNG. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $283.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cheniere Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $327.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cheniere Energy in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Cheniere Energy from $290.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th.

Cheniere Energy Price Performance

NYSE LNG opened at $268.08 on Monday. Cheniere Energy has a 52 week low of $186.20 and a 52 week high of $300.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The stock has a market cap of $55.37 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $271.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $259.32.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The energy company reported $3.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.92 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 13.57% and a return on equity of 29.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.30 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cheniere Energy will post 16.31 EPS for the current year.

Cheniere Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a $0.555 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is currently 16.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNG. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cheniere Energy by 5,166.7% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Talon Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Cheniere Energy by 33.9% in the 2nd quarter. Talon Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,525 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,754,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares in the last quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Cheniere Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $825,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cheniere Energy by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 150,826 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $36,049,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 65.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,113 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $11,021,000 after purchasing an additional 18,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.26% of the company’s stock.

About Cheniere Energy

Cheniere Energy, Inc is a Houston-based energy company focused on the production, liquefaction, transportation and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The company purchases natural gas and processes it at its liquefaction facilities before shipping LNG to customers in international markets. Cheniere also provides natural gas pipeline, storage and other services that support its LNG operations.

Cheniere operates the Sabine Pass LNG facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and the Corpus Christi LNG facility in South Texas.