Venture Global (NYSE:VG) CFO Jonathan Thayer Sells 111,111 Shares of Stock

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) CFO Jonathan Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.27, for a total transaction of $1,585,553.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Venture Global Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of VG stock opened at $14.81 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $13.58 and its 200-day moving average is $10.10. The stock has a market cap of $36.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.44. Venture Global, Inc. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter. Venture Global had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a $0.018 dividend. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. 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. Venture Global’s payout ratio is currently 7.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 147.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,862,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,417,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620,863 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,893,707 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 520.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,827,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268,053 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,101,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,811,000 after purchasing an additional 273,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,963,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,849,000 after purchasing an additional 219,505 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $18.00 price target on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $12.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.27.

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.