Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 7th

Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th.

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 research 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 Price Performance

Shares of LNG stock opened at $228.14 on Thursday. Cheniere Energy has a fifty-two week low of $152.31 and a fifty-two week high of $257.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.62.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $3.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $2.06. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. Cheniere Energy had a return on equity of 41.44% and a net margin of 22.70%. Cheniere Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cheniere Energy will post 12.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LNG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cheniere Energy from $213.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Cheniere Energy from $204.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Cheniere Energy from $202.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Cheniere Energy from $234.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Cheniere Energy from $242.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average 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.