New Fortress Energy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:NFE)

New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:NFE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 23,858 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 184% compared to the average daily volume of 8,391 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Fortress Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NFE. X Square Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Fortress Energy by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. X Square Capital LLC now owns 137,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in New Fortress Energy by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 59,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,828,000 after purchasing an additional 888 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of New Fortress Energy by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Fortress Energy by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 1,009 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of New Fortress Energy by 4.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. 58.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NFE. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of New Fortress Energy from $40.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of New Fortress Energy from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of New Fortress Energy from $27.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BTIG Research reduced their price target on New Fortress Energy from $35.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.40.

New Fortress Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NFE traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $10.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,529,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,224,384. The company has a 50-day moving average of $15.65 and a 200-day moving average of $22.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.38, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 1.53. New Fortress Energy has a 12 month low of $9.44 and a 12 month high of $40.04.

New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.50). New Fortress Energy had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 18.80%. The firm had revenue of $428.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $465.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. New Fortress Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that New Fortress Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

New Fortress Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. New Fortress Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.18%.

About New Fortress Energy

New Fortress Energy Inc operates as an integrated gas-to-power energy infrastructure company that provides energy and development services to end-users worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Terminals and Infrastructure, and Ships. The Terminals and Infrastructure segment engages in the natural gas procurement and liquefaction; and shipping, logistics, facilities and conversion, or development of natural gas-fired power generation.