Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) Stock Price Up 12.1% – Still a Buy?

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLY)’s stock price was up 12.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $47.19 and last traded at $48.0550. Approximately 2,044,817 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 5,118,433 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FLY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Firefly Aerospace from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Firefly Aerospace from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Firefly Aerospace from $65.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Firefly Aerospace from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Firefly Aerospace from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Firefly Aerospace presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.56.

Firefly Aerospace Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion and a PE ratio of -5.86.

Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $80.88 million during the quarter. Firefly Aerospace had a negative return on equity of 40.96% and a negative net margin of 181.16%.The firm’s revenue was up 44.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($5.09) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Firefly Aerospace, Inc. will post -1.81 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel David Leigh Wheeler sold 3,766 shares of Firefly Aerospace stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.04, for a total transaction of $169,620.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 142,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,429,820.32. This trade represents a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Firefly Aerospace

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FLY. AE Industrial Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Firefly Aerospace in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,063,863,000. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Firefly Aerospace in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,409,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Firefly Aerospace in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,711,000. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Firefly Aerospace by 233.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,773,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,676,000 after buying an additional 1,241,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Firefly Aerospace in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,337,000.

Firefly Aerospace Company Profile

Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) is a U.S.-based aerospace company that designs, manufactures and operates launch vehicles and in-space systems for commercial, civil and national security customers. The company focuses on providing end-to-end small- and medium-lift launch services, mission integration and spacecraft hardware to support satellite deployment and on-orbit operations.

Firefly’s product portfolio includes the Alpha small launch vehicle, developed to carry small satellites to low Earth orbit, and plans for larger vehicles and in-space capabilities to address a range of payload sizes and mission profiles.