Venture Global (NYSE:VG) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Venture Global in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Venture Global from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $16.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.12.

Venture Global Stock Performance

VG stock opened at $13.54 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.38. Venture Global has a 12-month low of $5.72 and a 12-month high of $17.62. The firm has a market cap of $33.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.22. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. Venture Global had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Venture Global will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brian Cothran sold 473,533 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.81, for a total value of $7,013,023.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Fory Musser sold 266,265 shares of Venture Global stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.09, for a total value of $3,485,408.85. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,459,399 shares of company stock valued at $32,490,384. Corporate insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Venture Global

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in Venture Global by 82.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,812,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,739,000 after buying an additional 4,893,707 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted 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 worth $42,827,000 after buying an additional 5,268,053 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Venture Global by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,101,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,811,000 after acquiring an additional 273,331 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Venture Global by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 4,963,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,849,000 after acquiring an additional 219,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Venture Global during the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,489,000.

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.