Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the energy company on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%.

Cheniere Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 105.9% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Cheniere Energy to earn $11.54 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 35.9%.

Cheniere Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:LNG opened at $226.43 on Wednesday. Cheniere Energy has a twelve month low of $152.31 and a twelve month high of $257.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $222.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.27.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $3.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $2.06. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 22.70% and a return on equity of 41.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cheniere Energy will post 12.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LNG shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $242.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $232.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Cheniere Energy from $201.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Cheniere Energy from $242.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $204.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.36.

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.