Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on SPCE. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Virgin Galactic to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.43.

Virgin Galactic Price Performance

SPCE opened at $2.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $255.13 million, a PE ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 2.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.94. Virgin Galactic has a 1 year low of $2.13 and a 1 year high of $8.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Virgin Galactic

In related news, Director Diana S. Strandberg acquired 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.49 per share, with a total value 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. This trade represents a 39.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Virgin Galactic

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPCE. Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new position in shares of Virgin Galactic during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,880,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 26.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,342,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,040,000 after acquiring an additional 496,373 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 133,438 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 343,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 260,594 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.