Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Buys 509,256 Shares of Golar LNG Limited $GLNG

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) by 1,114.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 554,943 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 509,256 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Golar LNG were worth $30,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GLNG. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 253.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,306,379 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $85,821,000 after buying an additional 1,654,353 shares during the period. Verbena Value LP purchased a new stake in Golar LNG during the 4th quarter valued at $38,497,000. Clearline Capital LP grew its holdings in Golar LNG by 172.6% in the 4th quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,067,153 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $39,709,000 after acquiring an additional 675,744 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP grew its holdings in Golar LNG by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 3,932,104 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $146,314,000 after acquiring an additional 637,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Golar LNG in the second quarter valued at about $24,714,000. Institutional investors own 92.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GLNG. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Golar LNG from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Golar LNG from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $66.00 price target on Golar LNG and gave the company a “conviction-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Pareto Securities cut Golar LNG from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Golar LNG in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Golar LNG presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.70.

Golar LNG Stock Performance

Golar LNG stock opened at $48.62 on Monday. Golar LNG Limited has a fifty-two week low of $35.02 and a fifty-two week high of $57.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 2.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23 and a beta of 0.02.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The shipping company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $137.55 million during the quarter. Golar LNG had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 30.10%. As a group, analysts expect that Golar LNG Limited will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Golar LNG Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio is 72.46%.

Golar LNG Profile

Golar LNG Ltd. is a leading owner and operator of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and floating infrastructure. The company specializes in the transportation of LNG on long-term and spot charters for major energy firms around the world. In addition to shipping, Golar LNG has broadened its services to include project development and the conversion of existing carriers into Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) and Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) vessels.

Since pioneering the first purpose-built FLNG conversion project, Golar LNG has been at the forefront of offshore gas monetization.