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

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 34,880 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 168% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,004 call options.

Virgin Galactic News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Virgin Galactic this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management reiterated targets for a commercial service launch in Q4 2026 and said flight cadence could ramp to 10+ commercial flights per month by mid‑2027 — a concrete timeline that supports future revenue and capacity planning. Virgin Galactic targets commercial service launch in Q4 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Virgin Galactic reopened spaceflight ticket sales at $750,000 per seat, signaling confidence in demand and immediate monetization opportunities as commercial flights approach. This repricing and restart can help convert backlog into near‑term cash flow if operations remain on schedule. Virgin Galactic Resumes Space Tourism Sales at $750,000 a Ticket
• Positive Sentiment: The company reported an EPS beat for Q4 2025 (reported -$0.98 vs. street -$1.12), showing improvement versus the prior year and giving investors a data point that operations are stabilizing. Virgin Galactic Earnings Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Company updates: assembly of the first SpaceShip is nearly complete and ground testing is slated to begin in April — tangible technical progress that reduces execution risk versus earlier stages. Business Wire: 2025 Results & Business Update
• Neutral Sentiment: Hiring/organizational move: appointment of a first Chief Growth Officer to coordinate revenue, partnerships and new spaceports — a structural positive but one that matters only if execution follows. A Look At Virgin Galactic Valuation After Appointing Its First Chief Growth Officer
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader sector strength: space/launch peers rallying helped lift SPCE as part of a thematic trade — supportive but not specific to Virgin’s fundamentals. Rocket Lab Gains 6%, Virgin Galactic Surges 19%
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue was light for the quarter ($0.31M vs. ~$0.41M estimate) and the company remains unprofitable with large negative margins and ROE — financial reality that keeps valuation hinged on future operational delivery. MarketBeat: Q4 Earnings Snapshot
• Negative Sentiment: Execution risk and capital needs remain material: timeline slips, additional testing or setbacks could push cash burn higher and delay revenue — the main downside risk investors are pricing. Earnings Call Transcript (Seeking Alpha)

Virgin Galactic Trading Up 13.8%

NYSE:SPCE traded up $0.30 on Tuesday, reaching $2.47. The stock had a trading volume of 16,723,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,313,873. The company has a market cap of $180.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.33 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.87. Virgin Galactic has a 12-month low of $2.13 and a 12-month high of $6.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $2.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.27.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $0.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.41 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative net margin of 17,615.71% and a negative return on equity of 108.00%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.53) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Virgin Galactic will post -16.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPCE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,342,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,040,000 after acquiring an additional 496,373 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 727,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 133,438 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Virgin Galactic by 149.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Virgin Galactic by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 406,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 117,136 shares during the period. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $2.30 target price on shares of Virgin Galactic and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Susquehanna set a $3.50 price objective on Virgin Galactic in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $4.20.

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.