Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Price Target Raised to $14.00

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on Venture Global to $14.00 and kept an "outperform" rating, implying roughly a 7.47% upside from the prior close.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with $0.41 EPS (vs. $0.35 consensus) and reported revenue of $4.45 billion, up 191.7% year-over-year.
• Insiders sold 2,450,000 shares (about $28.24 million) in the last three months, although insiders still own 86.73% of the company.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $11.00 to $14.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price suggests a potential upside of 7.47% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. New Street Research set a $15.00 price target on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Venture Global from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Venture Global from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Venture Global to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.10.

Venture Global Stock Performance

VG stock traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $13.03. 7,329,783 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,294,924. Venture Global has a twelve month low of $5.72 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $31.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22 and a beta of 5.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.69.

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

Insider Transactions at Venture Global

In other 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total value of $11,830,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,450,000 shares of company stock valued at $28,236,193 in the last three months. 86.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Venture Global

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Venture Global by 147.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,862,372 shares of the company's stock worth $324,417,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620,863 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Venture Global by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company's stock worth $73,739,000 after buying an additional 4,893,707 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Venture Global by 520.8% in the 4th 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Venture Global by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,101,668 shares of the company's stock worth $34,811,000 after acquiring an additional 273,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Venture Global by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,963,166 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,849,000 after acquiring an additional 219,505 shares during the period.

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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