Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,675 Cheniere Energy, Inc. $LNG

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,675 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LNG. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Cheniere Energy by 0.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,687,388 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,141,473,000 after buying an additional 26,843 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $957,425,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,874,796 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $940,578,000 after purchasing an additional 70,475 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Cheniere Energy by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,990,748 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $484,787,000 after purchasing an additional 28,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,845,285 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $449,364,000 after purchasing an additional 8,740 shares during the last quarter. 87.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on LNG. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Cheniere Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Cheniere Energy from $274.00 to $271.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $290.00 price target on Cheniere Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $261.00 to $257.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $254.00 price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cheniere Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.53.

Cheniere Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Cheniere Energy stock opened at $194.18 on Friday. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.20 and a 12 month high of $257.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82, a P/E/G ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.64.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The energy company reported $4.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.75 by $2.00. Cheniere Energy had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 21.12%.The company had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 11.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cheniere Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.555 per share. This is a positive change from Cheniere Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is currently 12.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director W Benjamin Moreland bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $208.22 per share, with a total value of $1,041,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,052,216.32. This represents a 102.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Cheniere Energy Profile

Cheniere Energy, Inc is a U.S.-based energy company that develops, owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and markets LNG to global customers. The company’s core activities include natural gas liquefaction, long‑term and short‑term LNG sales and marketing, and the associated midstream services required to move gas from production basins to international markets. Cheniere focuses on converting domestic natural gas into LNG for export, providing a bridge between North American supply and overseas demand.

Cheniere’s principal operating assets are large-scale LNG export terminals located on the U.S.