NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

NextDecade Corporation (NASDAQ:NEXT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 2,936 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 16% compared to the average daily volume of 2,529 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NEXT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in NextDecade in the second quarter worth $179,608,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in NextDecade by 12.4% in the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,216,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,959,000 after purchasing an additional 574,080 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of NextDecade during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,415,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in NextDecade in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,613,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in NextDecade by 56.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 416,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,194,000 after acquiring an additional 150,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEXT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of NextDecade in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of NextDecade in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $8.50 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NextDecade from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.10.

NextDecade Stock Performance

NextDecade stock traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $7.26. 8,575,857 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,361,748. NextDecade has a 12 month low of $4.75 and a 12 month high of $9.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $6.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.34 and a beta of 1.53.

NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.71) by $1.25. As a group, research analysts predict that NextDecade will post -2.10 earnings per share for the current year.

NextDecade Company Profile

NextDecade Corporation is an energy company focused on developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and related carbon-management solutions. The company’s principal project is Rio Grande LNG, an LNG export facility located near Brownsville, Texas, on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Rio Grande LNG is designed to receive natural gas, process it into LNG, and export the product by ship to customers in international markets. The project is being developed in multiple phases and is intended to serve energy markets in Europe, Asia and other regions seeking access to U.S.