Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $13.38, but opened at $12.70. Venture Global shares last traded at $12.9150, with a volume of 1,679,811 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Venture Global from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Venture Global in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $18.00 price target on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.06.

Venture Global Stock Down 1.8%

The stock has a market cap of $31.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 16.94%.The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.018 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Venture Global

In other Venture Global news, VP Fory Musser sold 2,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.09, for a total value of $26,180,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Cothran sold 473,533 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.81, for a total transaction of $7,013,023.73. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 4,459,399 shares of company stock valued at $58,670,384 over the last ninety days. 84.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. Corecam AG purchased a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the second quarter worth approximately $2,401,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new stake in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,446,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Venture Global by 1,876.8% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 109,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 115,646 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Venture Global by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares in the last quarter.

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.