Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) Short Interest Update

Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,730,000 shares, an increase of 20.3% from the December 15th total of 3,100,000 shares. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Golar LNG

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GLNG. Beck Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Golar LNG by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 75,114 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $2,355,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 105.1% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,372 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Golar LNG during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Golar LNG by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Golar LNG by 2.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 35,580 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.21% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GLNG shares. Fearnley Fonds cut shares of Golar LNG from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Golar LNG from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Golar LNG to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.13.

Golar LNG Stock Up 1.4 %

GLNG traded up $0.59 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.82. 1,401,539 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,111,455. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 298.74 and a beta of 0.59. Golar LNG has a 12-month low of $19.94 and a 12-month high of $44.36. The company's 50-day moving average is $40.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.86.

Golar LNG Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. Golar LNG's payout ratio is 714.34%.

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.