Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Trading Down 5.7% – Here’s Why

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) shares dropped 5.7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $6.80 and last traded at $6.8350. Approximately 2,088,071 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 7,789,376 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Venture Global to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down from $17.00) on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Friday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $17.50 price objective on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Venture Global from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Venture Global Stock Down 4.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.85. The company has a market capitalization of $17.03 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last released 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). Venture Global had a return on equity of 29.55% and a net margin of 21.99%.The business had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 259.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Venture Global, Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a half year 25 dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.017 per share. This is a boost from Venture Global’s previous half year 25 dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 19th. This represents a dividend yield of 50.0%. Venture Global’s payout ratio is currently 8.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Venture Global

In other news, VP Fory Musser sold 42,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.80, for a total transaction of $334,627.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Thomas Earl sold 500,000 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.69, for a total transaction of $6,845,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,500,000 shares of company stock valued at $36,575,740. Corporate insiders own 86.73% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Venture Global

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Venture Global during the second quarter valued at $28,000. MAI Capital Management acquired a new position in Venture Global during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Venture Global by 161.2% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the period.

Venture Global Company Profile

Venture Global has fundamentally reshaped the development and construction of liquefied natural gas production, establishing us as a rapidly growing company delivering critical LNG to the world. Our innovative and disruptive approach, which is both scalable and repeatable, allows us to bring LNG to a global market years faster and at a lower cost.