Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC Has $2.54 Million Stock Holdings in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG)

Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) by 64.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,524 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 26,342 shares during the period. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cheniere Energy were worth $2,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Cheniere Energy by 9.4% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,995 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,594,000 after buying an additional 2,760 shares in the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new position in Cheniere Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $249,000. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its holdings in Cheniere Energy by 5,487.8% in the 2nd quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 134,108 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $23,446,000 after buying an additional 131,708 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cheniere Energy by 43.7% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 878 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cheniere Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $744,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNG has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cheniere Energy from $213.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Cheniere Energy in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Cheniere Energy from $178.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy from $208.00 to $204.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cheniere Energy from $194.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $196.00.

Cheniere Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LNG opened at $178.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Cheniere Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $152.31 and a 1 year high of $187.44.

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The energy company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $2.13. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.52 billion. Cheniere Energy had a return on equity of 39.42% and a net margin of 27.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.61 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cheniere Energy, Inc. will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Cheniere Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.435 per share. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Cheniere Energy’s payout ratio is currently 8.48%.

Cheniere Energy announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, June 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to repurchase up to 9.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cheniere Energy Profile

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.