DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 74,456 Shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale trimmed its stake in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) by 38.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 118,496 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 74,456 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Cheniere Energy were worth $18,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cheniere Energy in the fourth quarter worth $308,910,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Cheniere Energy by 231.8% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,338,752 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $215,914,000 after purchasing an additional 935,239 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in shares of Cheniere Energy by 61.4% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,222,723 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $197,201,000 after purchasing an additional 465,000 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Cheniere Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $70,682,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 30.4% in the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 1,593,308 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $256,969,000 after purchasing an additional 371,061 shares during the period. 87.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LNG shares. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Cheniere Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $162.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com cut Cheniere Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $204.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cheniere Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.09.

Cheniere Energy Stock Performance

NYSE LNG traded down $3.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $176.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,926,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,543,313. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $152.31 and a 52-week high of $184.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $169.35 and a 200 day moving average of $163.65. The stock has a market cap of $40.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.96.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The energy company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.17). Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 28.55% and a return on equity of 48.19%. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 41.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 8.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheniere Energy declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 17th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to purchase up to 9.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cheniere Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.435 dividend. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is 8.48%.

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.