Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Trading 6.4% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) shot up 6.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $13.11 and last traded at $12.9460. 3,997,093 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 19,493,896 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on VG. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Venture Global from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Venture Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.06.

Venture Global Stock Up 7.4%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40. The firm has a market cap of $32.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.33.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.018 dividend. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.78%.

Insider Transactions at Venture Global

In other news, VP Fory Musser sold 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.09, for a total transaction of $26,180,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.21, for a total value of $1,578,887.31. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 4,459,399 shares of company stock worth $58,670,384 in the last ninety days. 84.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Venture Global

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Venture Global by 520.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,268,053 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the second quarter valued at approximately $76,489,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Venture Global by 82.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,739,000 after buying an additional 4,893,707 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Venture Global by 135.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,174,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,789,000 after buying an additional 2,402,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Venture Global by 258.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,248,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,155,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,253 shares during the period.

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.