Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) Rating Lowered to Hold at Fearnley Fonds

Fearnley Fonds downgraded shares of Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on GLNG. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Golar LNG from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Golar LNG from $43.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Golar LNG from $35.50 to $44.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Golar LNG to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.63.

Golar LNG Stock Performance

GLNG opened at $34.00 on Wednesday. Golar LNG has a 52-week low of $19.94 and a 52-week high of $39.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.45.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The shipping company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $62.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.38 million. Golar LNG had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 50.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Golar LNG will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Golar LNG Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GLNG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Golar LNG by 74.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,015,644 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $24,436,000 after purchasing an additional 433,299 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Golar LNG by 532.0% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 133,444 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,183,000 after purchasing an additional 112,331 shares in the last quarter. Murchinson Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Golar LNG during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,301,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in shares of Golar LNG by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 1,500,628 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $47,045,000 after purchasing an additional 63,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Golar LNG during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,805,000. 92.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Golar LNG

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.