Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $218.17 and last traded at $218.10, with a volume of 1127959 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $214.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LNG. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $208.00 to $204.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Cheniere Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Cheniere Energy from $232.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $201.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Cheniere Energy from $199.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.44.

Cheniere Energy Stock Up 2.5 %

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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.06. The stock has a market cap of $49.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 0.94.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $3.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $2.06. Cheniere Energy had a return on equity of 41.44% and a net margin of 22.70%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheniere Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Cheniere Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.77%.

Institutional Trading of Cheniere Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 4.8% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 5.1% in the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,649 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 1.6% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 8,555 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 607.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,919 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after buying an additional 6,800 shares during the period. 87.26% of the stock is currently owned by 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.