Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Shares Up 7.5% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) traded up 7.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $8.54 and last traded at $8.5550. 8,997,394 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 12,450,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VG shares. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price objective (down previously from $17.00) on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Friday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $17.50 price target on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Venture Global from $16.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Scotiabank set a $9.00 price objective on Venture Global in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Venture Global from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.04.

Venture Global Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.00. The firm has a market cap of $21.54 billion and a P/E ratio of 11.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Venture Global had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 29.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 259.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Venture Global, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.017 per share. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Venture Global’s payout ratio is presently 8.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.89, for a total value of $6,890,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Fory Musser sold 776,298 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total value of $6,256,961.88. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 3,000,000 shares of company stock worth $22,904,729 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 86.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Venture Global by 147.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,862,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,417,000 after acquiring an additional 13,620,863 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,489,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Venture Global by 171.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 460,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,000 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in Venture Global in the third quarter worth about $13,632,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Venture Global in the third quarter worth approximately $13,413,000.

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.