Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Thursday.

Golar LNG Price Performance

Golar LNG stock opened at $25.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. Golar LNG has a 1 year low of $19.62 and a 1 year high of $25.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.71.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The shipping company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.40. Golar LNG had a negative net margin of 15.68% and a positive return on equity of 11.67%. The firm had revenue of $78.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.85 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Golar LNG will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Golar LNG Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Golar LNG’s payout ratio is presently -232.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Golar LNG

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Golar LNG by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 6,506,757 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $157,854,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Golar LNG by 27.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,427,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $107,416,000 after acquiring an additional 965,932 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in Golar LNG by 197.1% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,716,761 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $62,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802,470 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Golar LNG by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,238,512 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $28,473,000 after acquiring an additional 72,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Golar LNG during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,773,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.21% of the company’s stock.

About Golar LNG

Golar LNG Limited designs, owns, and operates marine infrastructure for the liquefaction of natural gas. The company operates through three segments: FLNG, Corporate and Other, and Shipping. It also engages in the regasification, storage, and offloading of liquefied natural gas (LNG); operation of floating liquefaction natural gas (FLNG) vessels; operation of the transportation of LNG carriers; and vessel management.