Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Trading Down 0.6% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) were down 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $2.60 and last traded at $2.6350. 9,759,898 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 31,100,342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on SPCE shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Virgin Galactic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Virgin Galactic has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.43.

Virgin Galactic Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.61 and a beta of 2.74.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $0.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.20 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative return on equity of 103.89% and a negative net margin of 19,781.30%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. will post -2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Virgin Galactic

In other Virgin Galactic news, Director Diana S. Strandberg acquired 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.49 per share, for a total transaction of $49,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,615.70. This represents a 39.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virgin Galactic

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Focus Financial Network Inc. acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic during the second quarter worth $6,880,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Virgin Galactic by 26.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,342,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,040,000 after purchasing an additional 496,373 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 727,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 133,438 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 149.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 573,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 343,444 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased 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 worth $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 260,594 shares in the last quarter. 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.