Cerity Partners LLC Sells 3,000 Shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. $LNG

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 107,007 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Cheniere Energy were worth $25,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LNG. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Cheniere Energy by 718.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,669 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cheniere Energy during the second quarter worth $1,723,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its position in Cheniere Energy by 62.9% during the third quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 777,200 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $182,626,000 after acquiring an additional 300,100 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Cheniere Energy by 3.3% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 39,440 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $9,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 3.9% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 109,285 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,360,000 after acquiring an additional 4,083 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director W Benjamin Moreland bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $208.22 per share, with a total value of $1,041,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,052,216.32. The trade was a 102.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Zacks Research lowered Cheniere Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $290.00 price target on Cheniere Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $274.00 to $271.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheniere Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.53.

Cheniere Energy Stock Performance

LNG stock opened at $194.18 on Friday. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.20 and a 1-year high of $257.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $201.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.77. The company has a market capitalization of $41.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82, a PEG ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The energy company reported $4.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $2.00. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 21.12% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The business had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 11.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheniere Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $0.555 dividend. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. This is a positive change from Cheniere Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is presently 12.37%.

About Cheniere Energy

Cheniere Energy, Inc is a U.S.-based energy company that develops, owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and markets LNG to global customers. The company’s core activities include natural gas liquefaction, long‑term and short‑term LNG sales and marketing, and the associated midstream services required to move gas from production basins to international markets. Cheniere focuses on converting domestic natural gas into LNG for export, providing a bridge between North American supply and overseas demand.

Cheniere’s principal operating assets are large-scale LNG export terminals located on the U.S.