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

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $12.75, but opened at $12.37. Venture Global shares last traded at $12.5260, with a volume of 3,422,924 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Venture Global from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.70.

Venture Global Stock Down 3.2%

The company has a market cap of $30.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $12.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.85.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $4.45 billion for the quarter. Venture Global had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 191.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Venture Global, Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.018 dividend. This is a boost from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Venture Global’s payout ratio is 8.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Venture Global

In other news, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total value of $11,830,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sarah Blake sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.85, for a total transaction of $3,555,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 5,872,223 shares of company stock worth $82,002,870 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 86.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Venture Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Venture Global by 218.1% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Venture Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $104,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Venture Global by 1,614.1% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 33,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 31,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in Venture Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $531,000.

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.