Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT)

NextDecade Corporation (NASDAQ:NEXT) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 16,976 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 70% compared to the average volume of 9,980 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pamela K.M. Beall acquired 71,500 shares of NextDecade stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $7.07 per share, for a total transaction of $505,505.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 71,500 shares in the company, valued at $505,505. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NextDecade by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,378,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,473,000 after purchasing an additional 52,803 shares during the last quarter. Man Investment Partners US LP purchased a new position in shares of NextDecade during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,879,000. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP boosted its position in NextDecade by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP now owns 3,698,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,493,000 after acquiring an additional 761,299 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NextDecade by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,457,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,222,000 after acquiring an additional 45,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in NextDecade by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,102,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,642,000 after acquiring an additional 444,518 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.74% of the company’s stock.

NextDecade Price Performance

NASDAQ NEXT traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $7.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,547,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,212,507. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.91. NextDecade has a fifty-two week low of $4.75 and a fifty-two week high of $12.12. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of -6.72 and a beta of 2.02.

NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.68) by ($0.20). Analysts forecast that NextDecade will post -0.61 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on NextDecade from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on NextDecade from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on NextDecade in a report on Friday, February 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of NextDecade in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.67.

About NextDecade

NextDecade Corporation is a Houston‐based liquefied natural gas (LNG) and decarbonization company focused on the development, engineering, construction and operation of large‐scale LNG export facilities. The company’s core mission is to deliver cleaner energy solutions to global customers while integrating carbon capture and sequestration technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. NextDecade’s projects are designed to leverage abundant U.S. natural gas supplies to meet growing worldwide demand for low‐carbon fuel.

NextDecade’s flagship project, Rio Grande LNG, is located at the Port of Brownsville in southern Texas.