Lavaca Capital LLC Has $331,000 Stake in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG)

Lavaca Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,053 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC’s holdings in Cheniere Energy were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Cheniere Energy by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 103,556 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $17,678,000 after buying an additional 11,470 shares during the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheniere Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,022 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,613 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $427,000. Institutional investors own 87.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LNG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cheniere Energy from $213.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $223.00 to $206.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $204.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.09.

Cheniere Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LNG traded up $0.98 on Monday, reaching $177.70. 1,658,195 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,897,964. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $167.59. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $152.31 and a 52-week high of $184.62.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The energy company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.97 billion. Cheniere Energy had a return on equity of 48.19% and a net margin of 28.55%. Cheniere Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 41.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.89 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 8.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheniere Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.435 per share. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. Cheniere Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.48%.

Cheniere Energy announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, June 17th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to repurchase up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Cheniere Energy

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.