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

Key Points

• Venture Global shares opened sharply lower, falling from a prior close of $13.38 to $12.70 before last trading around $12.92.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.06; targets range from $15 to $18.
• The company beat quarterly earnings expectations with $0.19 in EPS versus $0.12 expected, while revenue rose 58.9% year over year to $4.60 billion. Venture Global also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.018 per share, although insiders sold 4.46 million shares over the past 90 days.

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report)'s stock price 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VG has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Venture Global from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday, June 4th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $18.00 price target on shares of Venture Global in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Venture Global has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.06.

Venture Global Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $12.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.09. The company has a market cap of $32.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.33.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 16.94%.The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter. The business's quarterly revenue was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.018 per share. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Venture Global's payout ratio is 7.78%.

Insider Activity at Venture Global

In related news, COO Brian Cothran sold 31,910 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.33, for a total transaction of $457,270.30. 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 the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.44, for a total value of $12,440,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,459,399 shares of company stock valued at $58,670,384. 84.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VG. Corecam AG acquired a new position in Venture Global during the second quarter worth about $2,401,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new stake in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,446,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Venture Global by 1,876.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 109,484 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 115,646 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Venture Global by 8.1% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,828 shares of the company's stock valued at $488,000 after buying an additional 3,281 shares in the last quarter.

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.

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