Investors Purchase High Volume of Virgin Galactic Put Options (NYSE:SPCE)

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 29,324 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 59% compared to the typical daily volume of 18,414 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 134.7% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,956,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122,535 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,340,000. Caption Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 112.1% during the 1st quarter. Caption Management LLC now owns 11,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 107,315 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 510.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 107,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 90,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $216,000. 46.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPCE has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Virgin Galactic in a research report on Monday, June 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $3.00 target price on the stock. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Virgin Galactic currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.75.

Virgin Galactic Stock Up 5.8%

SPCE stock opened at $4.28 on Friday. Virgin Galactic has a twelve month low of $2.18 and a twelve month high of $8.19. The company has a quick ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $246.20 million, a P/E ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 2.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $3.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.24.

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

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.