Venture Global’s (VG) Market Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Sanford C. Bernstein

Venture Global (NYSE:VG)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $14.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.08% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VG. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Venture Global from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings raised Venture Global from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Venture Global in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Venture Global from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.13.

Venture Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VG traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.84. 13,582,250 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,908,479. The firm has a market cap of $32.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.15. Venture Global has a 12 month low of $5.72 and a 12 month high of $17.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.44, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a return on equity of 34.08% and a net margin of 21.24%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Venture Global will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jimmy Staton sold 66,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.35, for a total value of $881,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,083,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,458,050. This trade represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jonathan Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.40, for a total value of $1,599,998.40. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,382,442 shares of company stock valued at $33,663,360 in the last 90 days. 84.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Venture Global by 754.3% in the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 7,143,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,293,000 after buying an additional 6,307,200 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Venture Global by 135.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,174,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,789,000 after buying an additional 2,402,771 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Venture Global by 1.7% in the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,918,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,001,000 after buying an additional 47,425 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Venture Global by 104.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,046,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,258,000 after buying an additional 1,046,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the first quarter valued at $23,640,000.

About Venture Global

Venture Global, Inc (NYSE:VG) is a U.S.-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) company that develops, constructs, owns and operates LNG export facilities. The company sources natural gas, processes it into LNG and exports the product to customers in international energy markets.

Venture Global’s operating and development portfolio is concentrated along the U.S. Gulf Coast, particularly in Louisiana. Its projects include the Calcasieu Pass LNG facility, the Plaquemines LNG facility and additional proposed developments such as CP2 LNG and Delta LNG.