Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) Holdings Boosted by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) by 53.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,732,655 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 605,499 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.66% of Golar LNG worth $54,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Golar LNG during the fourth quarter valued at $23,773,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in Golar LNG by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,586,994 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $86,303,000 after purchasing an additional 870,233 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Golar LNG by 74.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 709.8% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 157,448 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,620,000 after purchasing an additional 138,006 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Golar LNG by 532.0% during the second 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 last quarter. 92.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GLNG shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Golar LNG from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Golar LNG from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Golar LNG from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Golar LNG from $43.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Golar LNG from $35.50 to $44.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.10.

Golar LNG Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ GLNG opened at $31.88 on Monday. Golar LNG Limited has a 12 month low of $19.94 and a 12 month high of $36.52. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.36 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The shipping company reported $0.42 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $62.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.38 million. Equities research analysts expect that Golar LNG Limited will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Golar LNG Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.24%.

Golar LNG Company Profile

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.