Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Stock Price Up 5.5% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Venture Global shares rose 5.5% on Tuesday, trading as high as $11.35 after closing at $10.85, though volume was far below average.
• Analyst sentiment has improved, with Citi upgrading the stock to Buy and several firms raising price targets; the consensus rating is now Moderate Buy with a $15.94 average target.
• The company posted strong quarterly results, including EPS of $0.19 versus $0.12 expected and revenue growth of 58.9% year over year, while also paying a small quarterly dividend yielding about 0.6%.

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 5.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $11.35 and last traded at $11.4460. Approximately 1,126,311 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 19,674,318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VG. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Venture Global from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Venture Global from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings raised Venture Global from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.94.

Venture Global Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $27.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.33. 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 firm's 50 day moving average is $12.30 and its 200 day moving average is $11.23.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors 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 yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Venture Global's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Venture Global news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,112 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.50, for a total value of $1,277,788.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Cothran sold 473,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.81, for a total value of $7,013,023.73. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 4,570,511 shares of company stock worth $59,690,394 over the last three months. 84.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $76,489,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in 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 boosted its stake in Venture Global by 135.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,402,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,341,253 shares during 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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