Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Upgraded to Hold at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Venture Global (NYSE:VG) to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on VG. Citigroup raised Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $12.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. New Street Research set a $15.00 target price on Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Venture Global from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.94.

Venture Global Price Performance

Shares of VG stock opened at $11.05 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.27. Venture Global has a 52-week low of $5.72 and a 52-week high of $19.50.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 16.94%.The firm’s revenue was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Venture Global will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.018 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,112 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.50, for a total value of $1,277,788.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Fory Musser sold 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.09, for a total value of $26,180,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,459,400 shares of company stock valued at $58,462,618. 84.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. Blue Trust Inc. grew 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. MAI Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new position in Venture Global in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Venture Global by 218.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031 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.