Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Short Interest Update

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 46,565,004 shares, a drop of 24.3% from the February 26th total of 61,524,200 shares. Currently, 14.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 33,617,284 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Sarah Blake sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total transaction of $3,200,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total value of $11,830,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 5,872,223 shares of company stock valued at $82,002,870 over the last quarter. 86.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VG. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Venture Global by 1,750.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. MAI Capital Management purchased a new stake in Venture Global during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Venture Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 218.1% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VG. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Venture Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Venture Global from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.70.

Venture Global Price Performance

Shares of Venture Global stock traded down $0.58 on Monday, reaching $16.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,156,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,902,764. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The company has a market capitalization of $41.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 5.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.82. Venture Global has a 52-week low of $5.72 and a 52-week high of $19.50.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last announced its 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 for the quarter. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 191.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Venture Global will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.018 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Venture Global’s payout ratio is 8.14%.

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.