Investors Buy High Volume of Virgin Galactic Call Options (NYSE:SPCE)

Key Points

• Virgin Galactic experienced a significant surge in options trading, with call options rising by approximately 233% compared to average volumes.
• Institutional investors have increased their stakes in Virgin Galactic, with Federated Hermes Inc. enhancing its position by 134.7% in the first quarter.
• Despite a recent earnings report beating estimates, analysts forecast continued losses for the company, projecting an EPS of -16.05 for the current year.

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 61,289 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 233% compared to the average daily volume of 18,430 call options.

Institutional Trading of Virgin Galactic

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SPCE. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 222,753 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,310,000 after acquiring an additional 63,141 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Virgin Galactic by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 18,193 shares of the company's stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Virgin Galactic by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 49,321 shares of the company's stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 18,240 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Virgin Galactic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $104,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Virgin Galactic by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,846 shares of the company's stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 4,381 shares during the last quarter. 46.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Virgin Galactic Stock Down 0.3%

SPCE stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $3.27. The stock had a trading volume of 2,009,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,463,619. The company has a current ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.36 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3.36 and a 200 day moving average of $3.21. Virgin Galactic has a 1-year low of $2.18 and a 1-year high of $8.19.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($1.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.12) by $0.65. Virgin Galactic had a negative return on equity of 98.94% and a negative net margin of 17,828.03%.The business had revenue of $0.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.45 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Virgin Galactic will post -16.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPCE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Virgin Galactic in a report on Monday, June 30th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $3.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Virgin Galactic from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Virgin Galactic currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $4.81.

Virgin Galactic Company Profile

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc, an aerospace and space travel company, focuses on the development, manufacture, and operation of spaceships and related technologies. The company engages in the design and development, manufacturing, ground and flight testing, spaceflight operation, and post-flight maintenance of spaceflight systems for private individuals, researchers, and government agencies.