Empyrean Capital Partners LP Makes New Investment in Venture Global, Inc. $VG

Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 831,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,097,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Venture Global by 1,750.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Venture Global in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Venture Global by 218.1% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in shares of Venture Global by 217.5% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 4,268 shares during the period.

Venture Global Price Performance

Venture Global stock opened at $12.79 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.93. The stock has a market cap of $31.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.33. Venture Global, Inc. has a 12-month low of $5.72 and a 12-month high of $17.62.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter. Venture Global had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 16.94%.Venture Global’s revenue was up 58.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Venture Global, Inc. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.018 per share. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VG shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Venture Global in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Venture Global from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Venture Global news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.05, for a total value of $1,227,776.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Fory Musser sold 233,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.61, for a total transaction of $2,947,398.35. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 4,348,288 shares of company stock worth $57,091,496 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

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.