Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on SPCE. Weiss Ratings cut Virgin Galactic from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Virgin Galactic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.43.

Virgin Galactic Stock Performance

SPCE stock opened at $2.49 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.95. The company has a market capitalization of $251.10 million, a P/E ratio of -0.57 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.86) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $0.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.20 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative net margin of 19,781.30% and a negative return on equity of 103.89%. Sell-side analysts predict that Virgin Galactic will post -2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Virgin Galactic

In related news, Director Diana S. Strandberg purchased 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.49 per share, for a total transaction of $49,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 70,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,615.70. This trade represents a 39.27% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Virgin Galactic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SPCE. Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Virgin Galactic in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,880,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 287.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 187,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 139,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Virgin Galactic by 1,077.1% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 19,302 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.62% of the company’s stock.

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.