NextDecade Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:NEXT)

NextDecade Corporation (NASDAQ:NEXT) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 17,494 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 203% compared to the average volume of 5,776 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in NextDecade by 22,782.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 3,873 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in NextDecade during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Comerica Bank grew its stake in NextDecade by 88.0% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 4,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in NextDecade during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NextDecade in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEXT has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on NextDecade from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on NextDecade from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Capital One Financial started coverage on NextDecade in a research report on Friday, February 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of NextDecade in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.67.

NextDecade Stock Up 16.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:NEXT opened at $6.94 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.05. NextDecade has a 52 week low of $4.75 and a 52 week high of $12.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of -5.93 and a beta of 2.02.

NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.68) by ($0.20). As a group, research analysts expect that NextDecade will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

NextDecade Company Profile

NextDecade Corporation is a Houston‐based liquefied natural gas (LNG) and decarbonization company focused on the development, engineering, construction and operation of large‐scale LNG export facilities. The company’s core mission is to deliver cleaner energy solutions to global customers while integrating carbon capture and sequestration technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. NextDecade’s projects are designed to leverage abundant U.S. natural gas supplies to meet growing worldwide demand for low‐carbon fuel.

NextDecade’s flagship project, Rio Grande LNG, is located at the Port of Brownsville in southern Texas.