Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) Plans $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 15th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the shipping company on Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 26th.

Golar LNG has a dividend payout ratio of 48.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Golar LNG to earn $1.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.3%.

Golar LNG Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GLNG opened at $32.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.76 and a 200-day moving average of $27.30. Golar LNG has a one year low of $19.94 and a one year high of $36.52.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 28th. The shipping company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $63.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.27 million. Golar LNG had a net margin of 38.11% and a return on equity of 10.15%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Golar LNG will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GLNG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Golar LNG from $43.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Golar LNG from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Golar LNG from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Golar LNG from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Golar LNG from $35.50 to $44.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.10.

Golar LNG Company Profile

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