Brokerages Set Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Target Price at $16.31

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.3125.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VG shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Venture Global in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. New Street Research set a $15.00 price objective on Venture Global in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Venture Global from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $18.00 price objective on Venture Global in a research note on Thursday, May 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 111,111 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.27, for a total transaction of $1,585,553.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Fory Musser sold 233,735 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.61, for a total value of $2,947,398.35. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 7,881,623 shares of company stock worth $112,229,295 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Venture Global

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Venture Global during the third quarter worth about $13,632,000. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Venture Global by 520.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,827,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268,053 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Venture Global by 828.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 109,594 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in Venture Global during the third quarter worth about $2,837,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Venture Global during the third quarter worth about $13,413,000.

Venture Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VG opened at $13.07 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $32.48 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.27. Venture Global has a fifty-two week low of $5.72 and a fifty-two week high of $19.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $13.00 and a 200-day moving average of $10.71.

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

Venture Global Dividend Announcement

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

About Venture Global

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.