Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,446 Shares of Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) by 20.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,458 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 1,446 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Golar LNG were worth $231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 467.9% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,237,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $82,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 5.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,920,590 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $70,601,000 after acquiring an additional 94,336 shares during the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Golar LNG during the third quarter valued at about $36,865,000. Brookfield Corp ON raised its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 180.8% during the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 849,959 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,244,000 after acquiring an additional 547,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC raised its stake in Golar LNG by 32.8% in the third quarter. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC now owns 761,194 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $27,981,000 after buying an additional 187,924 shares in the last quarter. 92.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GLNG. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Golar LNG from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. DNB Markets downgraded shares of Golar LNG from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Fearnley Fonds downgraded shares of Golar LNG from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Golar LNG to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Golar LNG presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.13.

Golar LNG Stock Performance

Shares of GLNG opened at $32.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 233.52 and a beta of 0.78. Golar LNG Limited has a fifty-two week low of $20.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.23.

Golar LNG Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Golar LNG’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 208.33%.

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.