Royal Fund Management LLC Buys 407 Shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG)

Royal Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,322 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Cheniere Energy were worth $3,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 195.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,200,456 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $755,410,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776,920 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Cheniere Energy by 91.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,747,370 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $673,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789,919 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Cheniere Energy by 328.2% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 894,600 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $160,885,000 after purchasing an additional 685,662 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Cheniere Energy by 74.6% during the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 1,514,155 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $264,720,000 after buying an additional 647,096 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Cheniere Energy by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,270,853 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $921,503,000 after buying an additional 413,744 shares in the last quarter. 87.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LNG. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $201.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Cheniere Energy from $202.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $202.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Cheniere Energy from $204.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Cheniere Energy in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $242.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheniere Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.18.

Cheniere Energy Price Performance

Cheniere Energy stock opened at $252.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $56.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.14 and a beta of 0.99. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $152.31 and a 12-month high of $257.65. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.63.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $3.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $2.06. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 22.70% and a return on equity of 41.44%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.37 EPS. Cheniere Energy’s revenue was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 12.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheniere Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Cheniere Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.77%.

Cheniere Energy Profile

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.