Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $3.3250.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Virgin Galactic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virgin Galactic

In other news, Director Diana S. Strandberg purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $2.49 per share, with a total value of $49,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,615.70. This trade represents a 39.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPCE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 343,444 shares in the last quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Virgin Galactic during the fourth quarter valued at about $899,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 260,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 37,003.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 176,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 175,765 shares in the last quarter. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Virgin Galactic Stock Down 6.8%

Virgin Galactic stock opened at $3.32 on Wednesday. Virgin Galactic has a 1-year low of $2.13 and a 1-year high of $8.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $333.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.76 and a beta of 2.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $3.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.20 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Virgin Galactic will post -2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.