Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Stock Price Up 7% – What’s Next?

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) shares rose 7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $13.97 and last traded at $13.9150. Approximately 3,582,357 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 21,792,158 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VG has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Venture Global from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. New Street Research set a $15.00 price objective on Venture Global in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Venture Global presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.27.

Venture Global Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.35 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 16.94%.The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. Venture Global’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.018 per share. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Sarah Blake sold 300,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.85, for a total transaction of $3,555,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 2,611,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.08, for a total value of $41,986,664.88. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 6,094,446 shares of company stock valued at $84,601,768 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Venture Global by 147.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,862,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,417,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620,863 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Venture Global by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,893,707 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Venture Global by 520.8% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Venture Global by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,101,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,811,000 after acquiring an additional 273,331 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in Venture Global by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,963,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,849,000 after acquiring an additional 219,505 shares during the period.

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.