Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $15.37, but opened at $14.90. Intuitive Machines shares last traded at $15.3140, with a volume of 892,322 shares.

Specifically, insider Steven Vontur sold 3,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.13, for a total value of $49,196.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 113,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,838,771.61. This represents a 2.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Kamal Seyed Ghaffarian sold 141,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.87, for a total value of $2,394,004.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,494,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,956,736.16. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on LUNR. Wall Street Zen upgraded Intuitive Machines from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 24th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price objective on Intuitive Machines from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Intuitive Machines from $43.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Roth Capital set a $30.00 price target on Intuitive Machines in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Intuitive Machines from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.06.

Intuitive Machines Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.06 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.83.

Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $206.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.32 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Intuitive Machines, Inc. will post -0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Intuitive Machines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania acquired a new position in shares of Intuitive Machines during the 4th quarter worth about $52,689,000. Tema ETFs LLC boosted its stake in shares of Intuitive Machines by 139,768.2% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 3,105,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,418,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102,854 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Intuitive Machines by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,095,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,238,000 after purchasing an additional 557,517 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Intuitive Machines by 2,309.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,046,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Intuitive Machines by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,735,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,399,000 after purchasing an additional 61,084 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

About Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines is a Houston, Texas–based aerospace company specializing in commercial lunar exploration and services. The firm develops end-to-end solutions for robotic missions to the Moon, providing spacecraft design, mission management, navigation, communications, and data services under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Founded in 2013 by aerospace engineers Steve Altemus, Tim Crain and Kris Kimel, Intuitive Machines has grown from a small startup into one of the leading private entities pursuing lunar surface deliveries.