Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Director Diana Strandberg Purchases 20,000 Shares of Stock

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) Director Diana Strandberg acquired 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $2.49 per share, with a total value of $49,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,615.70. This represents a 39.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Virgin Galactic Stock Up 10.7%

Shares of SPCE opened at $2.74 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $222.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.63 and a beta of 2.18. Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.13 and a 1 year high of $5.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.99.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $0.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.20 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative net margin of 19,781.30% and a negative return on equity of 103.89%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. will post -3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virgin Galactic

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPCE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Virgin Galactic by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,342,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,040,000 after purchasing an additional 496,373 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 727,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after buying an additional 133,438 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 149.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 573,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 343,444 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 118.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 479,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 260,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 406,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,306,000 after buying an additional 117,136 shares during the period. 46.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Virgin Galactic from $8.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a report on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virgin Galactic presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.33.

Virgin Galactic Company Profile

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.