Traders Buy Large Volume of Venture Global Call Options (NYSE:VG)

Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE:VG) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 63,165 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 65% compared to the average volume of 38,278 call options.

Venture Global Trading Down 2.2%

Venture Global stock opened at $12.98 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $13.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.96. Venture Global has a 52 week low of $5.72 and a 52 week high of $19.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.44.

Venture Global (NYSE:VG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.07. Venture Global had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Venture Global will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Venture Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.018 per share. This is an increase from Venture Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Venture Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.14%.

Key Venture Global News

Here are the key news stories impacting Venture Global this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup upgraded Venture Global to Buy, citing “meaningful torque” from an elevated margin environment, which suggests more earnings upside if LNG pricing stays favorable. Venture Global raised to Buy at Citi on ‘meaningful torque in elevated margin environment’
• Positive Sentiment: The company lifted its annual core profit outlook after reporting higher liquefaction fees and stronger LNG sales, reinforcing the case for improving fundamentals. Venture Global lifts annual core profit forecast on higher liquefaction fees, LNG sales
• Positive Sentiment: Venture Global reported first-quarter EPS of $0.19, beating estimates, while revenue rose 58.9% year over year to $4.6 billion, a clear earnings beat that helped drive the stock’s recent jump. Venture Global (VG) Shares Jump After Strong First-Quarter Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced new LNG supply agreements with TotalEnergies and Vitol covering just over 1 mtpa for five years, signaling continued commercial demand for its exports. Venture Global signs new LNG supply deals with TotalEnergies, Vitol
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity surged, with investors buying a large volume of call options, which may reflect speculation that shares can extend their post-earnings move. Investors Buy Large Volume of Venture Global Call Options (NYSE:VG)
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary from Jim Cramer and other market-watch items added to the attention around the stock, but these were not direct fundamental catalysts. Jim Cramer Discusses Venture Global’s Pullback
• Neutral Sentiment: Venture Global added to CP2 bolt-on plans, indicating ongoing project development, though the near-term stock impact is less clear than the earnings and contract news. Venture Global adds to CP2 bolt-on plans

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on VG. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Venture Global from $15.00 to $18.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. New Street Research set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Venture Global in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Venture Global from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Venture Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Venture Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.30.

Insider Activity at Venture Global

In related news, insider Thomas Earl sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total transaction of $11,830,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Jonathan W. Thayer sold 2,611,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.08, for a total transaction of $41,986,664.88. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,094,446 shares of company stock worth $84,601,768 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 84.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Venture Global in the 3rd quarter worth $13,632,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Venture Global by 520.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,279,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,827,000 after acquiring an additional 5,268,053 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Venture Global by 828.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 122,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $838,000 after acquiring an additional 109,594 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,837,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Venture Global during the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,413,000.

Venture Global Company Profile

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.