Virgin Galactic Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SPCE)

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 82,593 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 85% compared to the average volume of 44,613 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Diana S. Strandberg bought 20,000 shares of Virgin Galactic stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.49 per share, for a total transaction of $49,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,615.70. The trade was a 39.27% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virgin Galactic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 valued at $9,040,000 after buying an additional 496,373 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Virgin Galactic by 22.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Virgin Galactic by 149.4% in the 4th 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 raised its position in Virgin Galactic by 118.9% in the 4th 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 position in Virgin Galactic by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 406,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after buying an additional 117,136 shares during the last quarter. 46.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPCE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna upped their target price on Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report 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 dropped their price target on Virgin Galactic from $8.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Virgin Galactic from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Virgin Galactic currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.33.

Virgin Galactic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPCE opened at $4.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Virgin Galactic has a twelve month low of $2.13 and a twelve month high of $8.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $3.23 and its 200-day moving average is $3.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $472.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.08 and a beta of 2.71.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.86) by $0.05. Virgin Galactic had a negative return on equity of 103.89% and a negative net margin of 19,781.30%.The company had revenue of $0.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.20 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Virgin Galactic will post -2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.