Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:CQP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus rating of Reduce (5 sell, 3 hold, 1 buy) with an average 1‑year target of $60.43, modestly below the stock's recent ~$62 price.
• The company posted a strong quarter—EPS $2.38 vs. $1.11 expected and $2.91B revenue—and pays a quarterly dividend that annualizes to $3.10, equivalent to a 5.0% yield.
• Institutional investors own about 46.55% of CQP, with notable stake increases by Alps Advisors and Tortoise Capital, while recent analyst updates raised some targets but left the consensus skewed toward sell/underperform.

Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:CQP - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the nine analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.4286.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CQP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Cheniere Energy Partners from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cheniere Energy Partners from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Cheniere Energy Partners from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Cheniere Energy Partners from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Cheniere Energy Partners from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheniere Energy Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CQP. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,338,942 shares of the company's stock worth $499,447,000 after buying an additional 336,946 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 1,092,866 shares of the company's stock worth $58,446,000 after buying an additional 298,566 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners by 52,982.6% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 252,673 shares of the company's stock worth $13,513,000 after buying an additional 252,197 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners during the 3rd quarter worth $7,357,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners during the 3rd quarter worth $7,304,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.55% of the company's stock.

Cheniere Energy Partners Stock Performance

NYSE:CQP opened at $62.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.06. The company has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.21, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. Cheniere Energy Partners has a fifty-two week low of $49.53 and a fifty-two week high of $70.64.

Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by $1.27. The firm had revenue of $2.91 billion during the quarter. Cheniere Energy Partners had a negative return on equity of 1,446.48% and a net margin of 27.76%.The business's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cheniere Energy Partners will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheniere Energy Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Cheniere Energy Partners's payout ratio is 59.96%.

About Cheniere Energy Partners

Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. NYSE: CQP is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure in the United States. The partnership's business centers on the development, ownership and operation of LNG facilities and associated pipeline assets that enable the liquefaction, storage and delivery of natural gas for export and domestic use. CQP's assets are focused on large-scale midstream energy infrastructure intended to serve global natural gas markets.

The company's core activities include LNG liquefaction and storage, terminal services, and pipeline transportation.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.