Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Trading 6.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG)’s share price was up 6.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $13.42 and last traded at $13.3050. Approximately 5,007,914 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 20,670,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VG shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Venture Global from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Venture Global from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.31.

Venture Global Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $32.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.27. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.61.

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

Venture Global Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.018 per share. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Fory Musser sold 233,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.61, for a total value of $2,947,398.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.27, for a total value of $1,585,553.97. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,000,923 shares of company stock worth $113,781,388. 84.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. MAI Capital Management purchased a new stake in Venture Global during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Venture Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,031 shares during the last quarter.

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.