Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE)

New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:NFE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 21,178 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 120% compared to the average daily volume of 9,628 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on NFE. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of New Fortress Energy from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of New Fortress Energy from $23.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $8.00 target price on shares of New Fortress Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

New Fortress Energy Price Performance

Shares of New Fortress Energy stock traded down $1.72 on Thursday, hitting $9.36. 9,647,953 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,111,997. New Fortress Energy has a 52 week low of $7.58 and a 52 week high of $30.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.58.

New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.07. New Fortress Energy had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $679.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.24 million. Research analysts expect that New Fortress Energy will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Christopher S. Guinta acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.57 per share, with a total value of $42,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 206,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,771,016.21. This represents a 2.48 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 37.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Fortress Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of New Fortress Energy by 77.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 221,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after acquiring an additional 96,728 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in New Fortress Energy by 138.0% during the third quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 15,395 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in New Fortress Energy during the third quarter valued at $101,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in New Fortress Energy by 107.2% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 389,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,542,000 after purchasing an additional 201,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of New Fortress Energy by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 148,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,000 after buying an additional 31,201 shares in the last quarter. 58.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

New Fortress Energy Company Profile

New Fortress Energy Inc operates as an integrated gas-to-power energy infrastructure company that provides energy and development services to end-users worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Terminals and Infrastructure, and Ships. The Terminals and Infrastructure segment engages in the natural gas procurement and liquefaction; and shipping, logistics, facilities and conversion, or development of natural gas-fired power generation.