Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna upped their price target on Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, 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. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virgin Galactic has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $3.33.

Virgin Galactic Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of Virgin Galactic stock opened at $2.81 on Friday. Virgin Galactic has a one year low of $2.13 and a one year high of $6.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.65 and its 200 day moving average is $3.03. The firm has a market cap of $228.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.65 and a beta of 2.18.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.86) by $0.05. Virgin Galactic had a negative return on equity of 100.76% 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Virgin Galactic will post -3.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Virgin Galactic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SPCE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 496,373 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 343,444 shares during the last quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic in the fourth quarter worth approximately $899,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 118.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 37,003.2% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 176,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 175,765 shares during the last quarter. 46.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.