Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $9.05, but opened at $9.99. Venture Global shares last traded at $9.6140, with a volume of 9,283,555 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Capital One Financial began coverage on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Venture Global from $16.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Zacks Research cut Venture Global from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Venture Global from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.89.

Venture Global Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion and a PE ratio of 12.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $7.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.78.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.06). Venture Global had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 29.55%. The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Venture Global’s revenue for the quarter was up 259.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Venture Global, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.017 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Venture Global’s payout ratio is presently 8.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Venture Global news, VP Fory Musser sold 776,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total value of $6,256,961.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.89, for a total transaction of $6,890,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 3,000,000 shares of company stock worth $22,904,729 in the last 90 days. 86.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Venture Global

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VG. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Venture Global in the second quarter worth about $3,148,000. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Venture Global in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,641,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Venture Global by 61.1% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 616,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,607,000 after buying an additional 233,978 shares during the period. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global during the third quarter worth approximately $4,706,000.

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.