Cheniere Energy, Inc. $LNG Shares Bought by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) by 51.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,142 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 1,736 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cheniere Energy were worth $1,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 150.0% during the fourth quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 125 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 676.0% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 194 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. 87.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LNG. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cheniere Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $258.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Cheniere Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $252.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $261.93.

Cheniere Energy Price Performance

LNG opened at $235.8180 on Thursday. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $175.14 and a 1 year high of $257.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.43.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The energy company reported $7.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $4.95. The firm had revenue of $4.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.48 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 21.05% and a return on equity of 37.83%. Cheniere Energy’s revenue was up 42.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 11.69 EPS for the current year.

Cheniere Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is 11.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheniere Energy news, Director Neal A. Shear sold 4,300 shares of Cheniere Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.93, for a total transaction of $1,057,499.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 29,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,312,236.69. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.