Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $13.83, but opened at $13.30. Venture Global shares last traded at $13.38, with a volume of 1,762,942 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VG shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Venture Global presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.47.

Venture Global Price Performance

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 has a market capitalization of $32.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.25.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 16.94%.The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.018 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is 7.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Venture Global

In related news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 2,611,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.08, for a total transaction of $41,986,664.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total transaction of $11,830,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 8,831,623 shares of company stock valued at $121,592,681 in the last three months. 84.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VG. Royal Bank of Canada acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,150,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $152,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $460,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000.

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.