Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Stock Price Up 19.1% – Still a Buy?

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE)’s stock price rose 19.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $5.18 and last traded at $5.1090. Approximately 25,585,725 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 96% from the average daily volume of 13,086,455 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SPCE shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Virgin Galactic from $8.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $3.33.

Virgin Galactic Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $491.92 million, a P/E ratio of -1.12 and a beta of 2.71.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.86) by $0.05. Virgin Galactic had a negative net margin of 19,781.30% and a negative return on equity of 103.89%. The firm had revenue of $0.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.20 million. Research analysts expect that Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. will post -2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Virgin Galactic

In other Virgin Galactic news, Director Diana S. Strandberg bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $2.49 per share, for a total transaction of $49,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 70,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,615.70. This trade represents a 39.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SPCE. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Virgin Galactic by 1,077.1% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 19,302 shares in the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Themes Management Co LLC acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.62% of the company’s stock.

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc (NYSE: SPCE) is a commercial spaceflight company developing and operating spacecraft for private individuals and research customers. The firm’s primary business is suborbital human spaceflight, offering passengers a brief trip to the edge of space aboard its reusable spaceplane. In parallel, the company is building out infrastructure and support services for suborbital payload deployments and microgravity research missions.

The core flight system consists of a carrier aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo, which lifts the spaceplane SpaceShipTwo to high altitude before release.