Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Shares Up 5.4% – Here’s What Happened

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG)’s share price shot up 5.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $12.93 and last traded at $12.9050. Approximately 2,777,582 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 19,577,414 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Venture Global from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $18.00 price objective on Venture Global in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Venture Global presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.94.

Venture Global Stock Down 0.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $32.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $12.29 and its 200 day moving average is $11.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.018 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.78%.

Insider Transactions at Venture Global

In other news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.05, for a total transaction of $1,227,776.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.44, for a total transaction of $12,440,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 4,570,511 shares of company stock worth $59,690,394 in the last 90 days. 84.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Venture Global by 1,750.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Venture Global by 218.1% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 3,031 shares during the last quarter.

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.