Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) has received an average rating of “Reduce” from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating 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.

SPCE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a report on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Virgin Galactic from $8.00 to $5.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th.

Virgin Galactic Trading Up 18.0%

NYSE SPCE opened at $3.25 on Friday. Virgin Galactic has a 12 month low of $2.13 and a 12 month high of $5.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2.67 and a 200-day moving average of $2.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $264.18 million, a P/E ratio of -0.75 and a beta of 2.18.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) EPS 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 company had revenue of $0.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.20 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Virgin Galactic will post -3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Diana S. Strandberg bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.49 per share, for a total transaction of $49,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,615.70. This trade represents a 39.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Virgin Galactic

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SPCE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 26.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 149.4% during the 4th 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 period. 683 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic during the 4th quarter worth about $899,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Virgin Galactic by 118.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 479,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 260,594 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Virgin Galactic by 37,003.2% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 176,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 175,765 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.