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

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 42,774 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 206% compared to the average volume of 13,963 put options.

Institutional Trading of Virgin Galactic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 29.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,165,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,298,000 after acquiring an additional 6,823,646 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Virgin Galactic during the 3rd quarter valued at $703,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 11.7% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 272,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 28,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 92.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 761,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after buying an additional 365,657 shares during the last quarter. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on SPCE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Virgin Galactic from $1.75 to $1.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Virgin Galactic from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Virgin Galactic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.30.

Virgin Galactic Trading Up 6.1 %

Shares of SPCE stock opened at $0.92 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1.34 and a 200-day moving average of $1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 5.03, a current ratio of 5.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Virgin Galactic has a 52 week low of $0.70 and a 52 week high of $6.17.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.05. Virgin Galactic had a negative net margin of 7,387.31% and a negative return on equity of 102.01%. The business had revenue of $2.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Virgin Galactic will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Virgin Galactic Company Profile

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.