Emerald Advisers LLC Acquires New Stake in Golar LNG Limited $GLNG

Emerald Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,585 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLNG. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 577.8% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 181,123 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,881,000 after acquiring an additional 154,402 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 57,455 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 9,456 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 61,990 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,435 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 213.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 22,756 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $937,000 after acquiring an additional 15,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,561 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. 92.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on GLNG shares. Wall Street Zen raised Golar LNG from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Golar LNG in a research note on Friday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $44.50 target price on shares of Golar LNG in a research note on Monday, August 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Golar LNG in a research note on Monday, September 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Golar LNG from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

Golar LNG Stock Performance

NASDAQ GLNG opened at $40.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of -580.63 and a beta of 0.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Golar LNG Limited has a twelve month low of $29.56 and a twelve month high of $45.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.59.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The shipping company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $75.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.37 million. Golar LNG had a positive return on equity of 6.36% and a negative net margin of 2.83%. Equities analysts anticipate that Golar LNG Limited will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Golar LNG Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 26th. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,428.57%.

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.