Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Venture Global (NYSE:VG)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders bought 63,165 Venture Global call options on Tuesday, about 65% above the typical volume, suggesting heightened bullish speculation.
• Shares rallied after earnings: VG rose 14.1% to $13.26, and the company recently beat quarterly EPS estimates with $0.19 per share on $4.60 billion in revenue, up 58.9% year over year.
• Analysts remain mixed: UBS and Morgan Stanley raised price targets and turned more positive, but the stock’s overall consensus rating is still Hold with an average target price of $15.83.

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 63,165 call options on the company. This is an increase of 65% compared to the typical volume of 38,278 call options.

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Venture Global Stock Up 14.1%

Shares of VG traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $13.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 34,870,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,817,592. The business has a fifty day moving average of $13.30 and a 200 day moving average of $9.91. The company has a market cap of $32.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.44. Venture Global has a 1 year low of $5.72 and a 1 year high of $19.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a return on equity of 27.96% and a net margin of 18.38%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 58.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Venture Global will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a dividend of $0.018 per share. This is a positive change from Venture Global's previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Venture Global's dividend payout ratio is 8.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VG shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Venture Global from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Venture Global from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $8.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Venture Global from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Venture Global from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Venture Global currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.83.

Insider Transactions at Venture Global

In other Venture Global news, VP Fory Musser sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.90, for a total transaction of $10,900,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,094,446 shares of company stock valued at $84,601,768. Company insiders own 84.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VG. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 1,750.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the second quarter worth $26,000. MAI Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the third quarter worth $29,000. Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the fourth quarter worth $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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 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.

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