Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Trading Down 6% – What’s Next?

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG)’s share price traded down 6% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $12.06 and last traded at $12.1670. 2,948,887 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 21,834,377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Venture Global from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Venture Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.77.

Venture Global Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $29.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.78 and a 200-day moving average of $9.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.06. Venture Global had a return on equity of 27.96% and a net margin of 18.38%.The firm had revenue of $4.45 billion during the quarter. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 191.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.018 per share. This is an increase from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.14%.

Insider Activity

In other Venture Global news, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total transaction of $11,830,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sarah Blake sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total transaction of $3,200,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,094,446 shares of company stock valued at $84,601,768 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 86.73% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Venture Global

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ferguson Shapiro LLC acquired a new position in Venture Global during the first quarter worth $221,000. Gunderson Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Venture Global during the first quarter worth $2,838,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in Venture Global during the first quarter valued at about $302,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA bought a new stake in Venture Global during the first quarter valued at about $1,099,000. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Venture Global by 8.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the period.

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.