Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Upgraded to Hold at US Capital Advisors

US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Venture Global (NYSE:VG) from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on VG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective 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 nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.25.

Venture Global Trading Down 4.0%

NYSE VG opened at $12.04 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.36. The stock has a market cap of $29.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.44. Venture Global has a 12-month low of $5.72 and a 12-month high of $19.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40.

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

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.018 dividend. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.78%.

Insider Activity at Venture Global

In other news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.27, for a total value of $1,585,553.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Cothran sold 31,910 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.33, for a total transaction of $457,270.30. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 10,331,623 shares of company stock worth $140,465,488 in the last ninety days. 84.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the third quarter valued at about $13,632,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 520.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,827,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268,053 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Venture Global by 828.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $838,000 after purchasing an additional 109,594 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the third quarter valued at about $2,837,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the third quarter valued at about $13,413,000.

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.