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Short Interest in Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Drops By 24.3%

Venture Global logo with Energy background
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Key Points

  • Short interest fell 24.3% to 46,565,004 shares as of March 13, about 14.3% of shares shorted and a short-interest ratio of 1.4 days, indicating reduced bearish positioning.
  • Insiders sold a combined 5,872,223 shares (~$82.0M) over the last three months (notably VP Fory Musser and CFO Jonathan Thayer), though insiders still own about 86.73% of the company.
  • Analysts and large investors lifted price targets and stakes—Goldman, JPMorgan, UBS and others raised targets (average $15.70) while Vanguard, UBS, State Street and others added large positions; a settlement with Edison also removed legal uncertainty around Calcasieu Pass, creating a potential commercial catalyst.
  • Five stocks to consider instead of Venture Global.

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in 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. Approximately 14.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 33,617,284 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Fory Musser sold 1,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.90, for a total transaction of $10,900,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 2,611,111 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.08, for a total value of $41,986,664.88. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 5,872,223 shares of company stock worth $82,002,870 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 86.73% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Venture Global

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Venture Global by 147.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,862,372 shares of the company's stock valued at $324,417,000 after buying an additional 13,620,863 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 520.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company's stock worth $42,827,000 after buying an additional 5,268,053 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Venture Global in the second quarter worth about $76,489,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Venture Global by 82.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,893,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Venture Global by 258.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,248,477 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,155,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,253 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Venture Global from $15.00 to $18.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Venture Global from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.70.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on VG

More Venture Global News

Here are the key news stories impacting Venture Global this week:

Venture Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VG opened at $17.51 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $11.14 and its 200 day moving average is $9.83. The stock has a market cap of $43.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 5.70. Venture Global has a 1-year low of $5.72 and a 1-year high of $19.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $4.45 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a return on equity of 27.96% and a net margin of 18.38%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 191.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Venture Global will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

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

About Venture Global

(Get Free Report)

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.

See Also

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