Cheniere Energy, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:LNG)

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the energy company on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%.

Cheniere Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 105.9% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Cheniere Energy to earn $11.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.9%.

Cheniere Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

LNG traded up $1.97 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $226.43. 2,410,530 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,438,795. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. Cheniere Energy has a 12 month low of $152.31 and a 12 month high of $257.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $222.75 and its 200 day moving average is $198.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 0.99.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $3.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $2.06. Cheniere Energy had a net margin of 22.70% and a return on equity of 41.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Cheniere Energy will post 12.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Cheniere Energy from $234.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Cheniere Energy from $232.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $204.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $242.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Cheniere Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.36.

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.