Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.0667.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VG shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Venture Global from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Mizuho increased their price target on Venture Global from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Venture Global in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th.

Insider Activity at Venture Global

In other news, VP Fory Musser sold 259,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.26, for a total value of $3,699,229.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sari Beth Granat sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total transaction of $2,698,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,340,893 shares of company stock worth $32,404,567 in the last three months. Insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Venture Global

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VG. Corecam AG acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global in the second quarter valued at $2,401,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 5,268,053 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Venture Global by 304.4% during the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 149,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 112,318 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Venture Global in the first quarter worth about $2,235,000. Finally, Clough Capital Partners L P bought a new stake in Venture Global in the first quarter worth about $7,961,000.

Venture Global Trading Down 2.1%

Venture Global stock opened at $14.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.22. Venture Global has a 52-week low of $5.72 and a 52-week high of $17.62.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter. Venture Global had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 34.08%. Sell-side analysts expect that Venture Global will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio is 5.51%.

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.