Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Venture Global (NYSE:VG)

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 63,165 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 65% compared to the typical daily volume of 38,278 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Venture Global

In other Venture Global news, CAO Sarah Blake sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.85, for a total transaction of $3,555,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total transaction of $11,830,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,094,446 shares of company stock valued at $84,601,768. Corporate insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Venture Global

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $13,632,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 520.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,268,053 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 828.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 109,594 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,837,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,413,000.

Venture Global Stock Performance

VG stock traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.26. The stock had a trading volume of 34,870,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,817,592. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.91. Venture Global has a 52 week low of $5.72 and a 52 week high of $19.50.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Venture Global will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.018 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on VG shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Venture Global from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on Venture Global from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. New Street Research set a $15.00 price target on Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Venture Global from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.83.

Venture Global Company Profile

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.