Investors Purchase Large Volume of New Fortress Energy Put Options (NASDAQ:NFE)

New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:NFE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 13,429 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 70% compared to the typical volume of 7,886 put options.

New Fortress Energy Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of NFE stock traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $9.85. The company had a trading volume of 3,240,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,448,234. New Fortress Energy has a 1-year low of $7.82 and a 1-year high of $34.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.06, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.57 and a 200 day moving average of $11.59.

New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $679.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $613.24 million. New Fortress Energy had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 7.84%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that New Fortress Energy will post 0.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of New Fortress Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in New Fortress Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $155,023,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of New Fortress Energy by 87.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,925,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,266,000 after buying an additional 9,319,985 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of New Fortress Energy by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 15,567,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,374,000 after buying an additional 4,509,177 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in New Fortress Energy by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 11,532,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,827,000 after buying an additional 3,505,975 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in New Fortress Energy by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,319,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,147,000 after buying an additional 2,728,191 shares during the period. 58.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on New Fortress Energy from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded New Fortress Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of New Fortress Energy from $23.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, New Fortress Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.60.

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.