Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.25.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Venture Global from $16.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.50 price target on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price objective (down from $17.00) on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Venture Global from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Venture Global from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Fory Musser sold 776,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total transaction of $6,256,961.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,000,000 shares of company stock worth $22,904,729. Corporate insiders own 86.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Venture Global by 147.4% during 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 period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $76,489,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in Venture Global during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,099,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Venture Global by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,731,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,973,000 after purchasing an additional 344,390 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Venture Global by 65.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 979,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,894,000 after buying an additional 386,603 shares in the last quarter.

Venture Global Price Performance

Shares of VG opened at $7.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Venture Global has a 1-year low of $5.72 and a 1-year high of $25.50. The stock has a market cap of $18.47 billion and a PE ratio of 9.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.30.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Venture Global had a return on equity of 29.55% and a net margin of 21.99%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 259.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Venture Global will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.017 dividend. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.97%.

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.