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

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 29th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the energy company on Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th.

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 $12.84 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 32.2%.

Cheniere Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Cheniere Energy stock traded up $3.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $233.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 706,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,868,304. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $52.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $222.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.55. Cheniere Energy has a fifty-two week low of $153.03 and a fifty-two week high of $257.65.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The energy company reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $1.59. The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. Cheniere Energy had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 20.71%. On average, analysts forecast that Cheniere Energy will post 11.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Cheniere Energy news, Director G Andrea Botta sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.51, for a total transaction of $1,975,590.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,448,852.34. This trade represents a 20.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cheniere Energy

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Cheniere Energy stock. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,558 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $335,000. Institutional investors own 87.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LNG shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $195.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $243.00 to $242.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Cheniere Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $252.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $242.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cheniere Energy presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $251.46.

Cheniere Energy Company 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.