Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Trading Down 6.5% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) were down 6.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $10.57 and last traded at $10.72. Approximately 6,253,927 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 12,776,060 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.46.

Specifically, VP Fory Musser sold 1,000,000 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.90, for a total transaction of $10,900,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VG has been the subject of a number of research reports. New Street Research set a $15.00 target price on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank set a $9.00 price objective on Venture Global in a research report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Venture Global from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Venture Global in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Venture Global from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Venture Global presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.34.

Venture Global Trading Up 9.8%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.70. The stock has a market cap of $29.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 5.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.06. Venture Global had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.96%. The company had revenue of $4.45 billion during the quarter. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 191.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Venture Global, Inc. will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.018 per share. This represents a $0.07 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Venture Global’s payout ratio is currently 8.14%.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $324,417,000 after buying an additional 13,620,863 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Venture Global by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,893,707 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Venture Global by 520.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,268,053 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Venture Global by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,101,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,811,000 after purchasing an additional 273,331 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Venture Global by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,963,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,849,000 after purchasing an additional 219,505 shares during the last quarter.

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.