Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) was upgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SPCE. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Virgin Galactic from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.33.

Virgin Galactic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPCE opened at $4.69 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $3.23 and a 200-day moving average of $3.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $472.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.08 and a beta of 2.71. Virgin Galactic has a fifty-two week low of $2.13 and a fifty-two week high of $8.90.

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

Insider Transactions at Virgin Galactic

In other Virgin Galactic news, Director Diana S. Strandberg acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $2.49 per share, for a total transaction of $49,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,615.70. This represents a 39.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Virgin Galactic in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in Virgin Galactic during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new position in Virgin Galactic during the third quarter worth $43,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. bought a new position in Virgin Galactic during the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Pitcairn Co. acquired a new position in shares of Virgin Galactic in the second quarter valued at $31,000. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.