VitalStone Financial LLC Purchases New Stake in Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG)

VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 12,479 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Golar LNG by 74.4% in the first 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. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Golar LNG in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,252,000. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Golar LNG in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,049,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Golar LNG by 171.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 98,506 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after buying an additional 62,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $4,183,000 after buying an additional 112,331 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on GLNG shares. B. Riley increased their price objective on Golar LNG from $35.50 to $44.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Golar LNG from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised Golar LNG to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Golar LNG from $43.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Golar LNG from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Golar LNG has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.63.

Golar LNG Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of GLNG stock opened at $38.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.42. Golar LNG Limited has a twelve month low of $19.94 and a twelve month high of $39.10.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The shipping company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). Golar LNG had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 50.89%. The business had revenue of $62.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.38 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Golar LNG Limited will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Golar LNG Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.24%.

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.