Investors Purchase Large Volume of Virgin Galactic Call Options (NYSE:SPCE)

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 61,289 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 233% compared to the average daily volume of 18,430 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPCE has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Virgin Galactic in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $3.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Virgin Galactic from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Virgin Galactic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.81.

Virgin Galactic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPCE opened at $3.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $188.32 million, a PE ratio of -0.36 and a beta of 2.13. Virgin Galactic has a fifty-two week low of $2.18 and a fifty-two week high of $8.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a current ratio of 3.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3.34 and a 200-day moving average of $3.23.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($1.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.12) by $0.65. The company had revenue of $0.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.45 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative return on equity of 98.94% and a negative net margin of 17,828.03%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Virgin Galactic will post -16.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virgin Galactic

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 134.7% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,956,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122,535 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 62.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 946,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,568,000 after acquiring an additional 362,421 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 240,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 18,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 222,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after acquiring an additional 63,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.62% of the company’s stock.

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc, an aerospace and space travel company, focuses on the development, manufacture, and operation of spaceships and related technologies. The company engages in the design and development, manufacturing, ground and flight testing, spaceflight operation, and post-flight maintenance of spaceflight systems for private individuals, researchers, and government agencies.