Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in four days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company’s books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves a full business day. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company’s books on the record date. In other words, investors can purchase Cheniere Energy’s shares before the 9th of May in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 19th of May.
The company’s next dividend payment will be US$0.50 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$2.00 to shareholders. Based on the last year’s worth of payments, Cheniere Energy stock has a trailing yield of around 0.8% on the current share price of US$235.79. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Cheniere Energy has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Cheniere Energy has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 13% of its income after tax. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. The good news is it paid out just 13% of its free cash flow in the last year.
It’s positive to see that Cheniere Energy’s dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Cheniere Energy
Click here to see the company’s payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
NYSE:LNG Historic Dividend May 4th 2025
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it’s easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. That’s why it’s comforting to see Cheniere Energy’s earnings have been skyrocketing, up 42% per annum for the past five years. Cheniere Energy earnings per share have been sprinting ahead like the Road Runner at a track and field day; scarcely stopping even for a cheeky “beep-beep”. We also like that it is reinvesting most of its profits in its business.’
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