Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:CQP) Stock Now Rated "Reduce" by Sell-Side Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts collectively rate CQP “Reduce”: Five of 10 analysts recommend selling, four rate it a hold and one recommends buying; the average 12-month price target is $62.25.
• Cheniere Energy Partners beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.01 versus the $0.98 consensus, while revenue rose 7.1% year over year to $2.57 billion.
• The quarterly dividend was cut sharply to $0.115 per unit from $0.775, bringing the annualized dividend to $0.46 and the yield to about 0.8%.

Shares of Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:CQP - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.25.

CQP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Cheniere Energy Partners from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Cheniere Energy Partners from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Cheniere Energy Partners from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cheniere Energy Partners from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy Partners from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheniere Energy Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners by 3.7% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,444,969 shares of the company's stock valued at $574,821,000 after acquiring an additional 340,808 shares in the last quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners by 161.2% in the 2nd quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 195,939 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,942,000 after purchasing an additional 120,937 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Cheniere Energy Partners by 39.4% during the second quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 352,339 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,475,000 after acquiring an additional 99,542 shares during the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Cheniere Energy Partners by 43.3% in the 1st quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 226,611 shares of the company's stock worth $14,646,000 after purchasing an additional 68,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy Partners in the second quarter worth $371,000. 46.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cheniere Energy Partners Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE CQP opened at $57.36 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.75 and a 200-day moving average of $63.40. The company has a market cap of $27.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.30. Cheniere Energy Partners has a 12 month low of $49.76 and a 12 month high of $71.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.25.

Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter. Cheniere Energy Partners had a return on equity of 497.69% and a net margin of 28.05%. Cheniere Energy Partners's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cheniere Energy Partners will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheniere Energy Partners Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.1150 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 3rd. This is a negative change from Cheniere Energy Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.7750. This represents a $0.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cheniere Energy Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.20%.

About Cheniere Energy Partners

Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership focused on liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure. It owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, where natural gas is processed into LNG for export.

The partnership's facilities include LNG liquefaction and storage infrastructure, marine loading facilities, and the Creole Trail Pipeline, which connects the terminal to natural gas supply networks. Sabine Pass began exporting LNG in 2016, marking an important early step in the growth of U.S.

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