Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) Price Target Cut to $308.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $313.00 to $308.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the energy company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $276.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cheniere Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $338.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $265.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cheniere Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.56.

Cheniere Energy Price Performance

LNG stock opened at $258.33 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $224.32. The stock has a market cap of $54.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.14. Cheniere Energy has a 1 year low of $186.20 and a 1 year high of $300.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $10.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $6.78. The business had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.48 billion. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 26.68% and a return on equity of 32.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.33 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Cheniere Energy will post 14.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cheniere Energy declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the energy company to purchase up to 21.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cheniere Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a $0.555 dividend. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. Cheniere Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 9.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sean N. Markowitz sold 22,246 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.98, for a total value of $6,473,141.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 64,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,622,720. This represents a 25.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Zach Davis sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $8,700,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 87,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,143,800. This represents a 24.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cheniere Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $228,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 135.4% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,103 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 2,854 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $634,000. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 9,723 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,759,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. 87.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.