Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Trading 7.7% Higher – Here’s Why

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) shares shot up 7.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $12.97 and last traded at $13.0940. 8,846,536 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 21,746,422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VG. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Venture Global from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Venture Global from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Venture Global from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Venture Global has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.77.

Venture Global Trading Down 4.1%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The company has a market capitalization of $31.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.84.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $4.45 billion for the quarter. Venture Global had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 191.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.018 dividend. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is 8.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Fory Musser sold 1,000,000 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.90, for a total transaction of $10,900,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total transaction of $11,830,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 6,094,446 shares of company stock valued at $84,601,768 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VG. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Venture Global by 1,750.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Venture Global during the second quarter worth about $26,000. MAI Capital Management acquired a new position in Venture Global in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Venture Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Venture Global by 218.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 3,031 shares in the last quarter.

About Venture Global

Venture Global (NYSE: VG) is a Houston-based energy company that develops, constructs and operates large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities in the United States. The company focuses on converting domestically produced natural gas into LNG for shipment to international markets, positioning itself as a supplier of pipeline-quality gas in vessel-ready form for global customers.

Venture Global’s core activities include site development, engineering and construction of liquefaction and export terminals, commissioning and ongoing operations of those facilities, and commercial marketing of LNG under both long-term and short-term contracts.