Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $14.68, but opened at $15.75. Venture Global shares last traded at $15.23, with a volume of 5,152,869 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VG. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Venture Global to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Venture Global from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Venture Global presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.70.

Venture Global Stock Down 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $35.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.76 and a 200 day moving average of $9.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. Venture Global had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.96%. The company had revenue of $4.45 billion during the quarter. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 191.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Venture Global, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.018 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Venture Global news, CAO Sarah Blake sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 2,611,111 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,872,223 shares of company stock worth $82,002,870. Company insiders own 86.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. MAI Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Venture Global by 218.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031 shares in 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.