Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.25.

VG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Venture Global from $16.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Zacks Research downgraded Venture Global from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.50 price objective on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Venture Global from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Fory Musser sold 776,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total value of $6,256,961.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.89, for a total value of $6,890,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 3,000,000 shares of company stock worth $22,904,729 in the last quarter. 86.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 161.2% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,820 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter.

Venture Global Price Performance

Shares of Venture Global stock opened at $7.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.46 billion and a P/E ratio of 10.19. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $7.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.00. Venture Global has a twelve month low of $5.72 and a twelve month high of $25.50.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.06). Venture Global had a return on equity of 29.55% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 259.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Venture Global 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 issued a dividend of $0.017 per share. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.97%.

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.