Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) Shares Up 13.3% – Still a Buy?

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR)’s share price shot up 13.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $46.75 and last traded at $45.70. 23,589,378 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 75% from the average session volume of 13,493,616 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on LUNR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Intuitive Machines in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Intuitive Machines from $26.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Zacks Research lowered Intuitive Machines from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Intuitive Machines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Intuitive Machines from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Intuitive Machines has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.50.

Intuitive Machines Stock Up 13.3%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.24. The firm has a market cap of $9.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.93 and a beta of 1.47.

Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $186.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.95 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Intuitive Machines, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Peter Mcgrath sold 24,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total value of $579,719.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 401,246 shares in the company, valued at $9,473,418.06. The trade was a 5.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Stephen J. Altemus sold 13,751 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total value of $324,661.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,162,495 shares in the company, valued at $27,446,506.95. The trade was a 1.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 1,048,206 shares of company stock valued at $24,782,839 over the last three months. Insiders own 54.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intuitive Machines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUNR. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania purchased a new position in shares of Intuitive Machines in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,689,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Intuitive Machines by 3,582.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,453,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,809,000 after buying an additional 2,386,688 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Intuitive Machines in the first quarter worth about $35,895,000. Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Intuitive Machines by 5,262.9% in the third quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 1,339,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,095,000 after buying an additional 1,314,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Intuitive Machines by 188.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,882,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,948,000 after buying an additional 1,231,188 shares in the last quarter. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines is a Houston, Texas–based aerospace company specializing in commercial lunar exploration and services. The firm develops end-to-end solutions for robotic missions to the Moon, providing spacecraft design, mission management, navigation, communications, and data services under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Founded in 2013 by aerospace engineers Steve Altemus, Tim Crain and Kris Kimel, Intuitive Machines has grown from a small startup into one of the leading private entities pursuing lunar surface deliveries.