Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Venture Global has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 18 analysts, with nine buys, eight holds and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $16.06, above the reported share price of $12.79.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed but generally constructive: Citigroup upgraded the stock to “buy” with a $17 target, while RBC raised its target to $16 and Scotiabank lifted its target to $15, both maintaining “sector perform” ratings.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.19, beating estimates of $0.12, while revenue rose 58.9% year over year to $4.60 billion. However, insiders sold 4.35 million shares worth approximately $57.1 million over the past three months.

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.0625.

Several research firms have issued reports on VG. Weiss Ratings downgraded 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 Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Venture Global from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Venture Global from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Cothran sold 31,910 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.33, for a total transaction of $457,270.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.05, for a total transaction of $1,227,776.55. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,348,288 shares of company stock valued at $57,091,496. Corporate insiders own 84.24% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VG. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Venture Global by 520.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,827,000 after buying an additional 5,268,053 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter worth about $76,489,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 135.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,174,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter.

Venture Global Stock Performance

NYSE VG opened at $12.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $31.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40. The company's 50 day moving average is $12.50 and its 200-day moving average is $11.93. Venture Global has a 12-month low of $5.72 and a 12-month high of $17.62.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. The firm's revenue was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Venture Global will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.018 dividend. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Venture Global's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.78%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.