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

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on SPCE. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Virgin Galactic from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Virgin Galactic to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Virgin Galactic from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Virgin Galactic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.43.

Virgin Galactic Price Performance

Shares of SPCE stock opened at $2.49 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.95. The company has a market cap 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 twelve month low of $2.13 and a twelve month high of $8.90.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.86) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $0.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.20 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative return on equity of 103.89% and a negative net margin of 19,781.30%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Virgin Galactic will post -2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPCE. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 61.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 5,205 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Virgin Galactic by 34.1% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 5,844 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Virgin Galactic by 44.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 19,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 6,143 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 76.6% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 16,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 7,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 40,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 7,282 shares in the last quarter. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Virgin Galactic Company Profile

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.