Intuitive Machines Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:LUNR)

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 37,262 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 83% compared to the average volume of 20,315 call options.

Intuitive Machines Trading Up 14.4%

Shares of LUNR traded up $1.75 on Thursday, reaching $13.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,979,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,484,086. Intuitive Machines has a twelve month low of $7.78 and a twelve month high of $46.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of -14.63 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $12.98 and a 200-day moving average of $19.33.

Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $269.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.90 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Intuitive Machines will post -0.60 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kamal Ghaffarian sold 1,698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $27,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,494,768 shares in the company, valued at $55,916,288. This trade represents a 0.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Vontur sold 3,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.13, for a total value of $49,196.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 113,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,838,771.61. The trade was a 2.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 391,263 shares of company stock worth $6,077,802 in the last three months. Company insiders own 54.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Intuitive Machines during the third quarter valued at approximately $98,725,000. Tema ETFs LLC raised its position in Intuitive Machines by 139,768.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 3,105,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,418,000 after buying an additional 3,102,854 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Intuitive Machines in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,452,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Intuitive Machines during the 1st quarter valued at $35,895,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Intuitive Machines by 188.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,882,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUNR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Intuitive Machines from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Intuitive Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Intuitive Machines in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Roth Capital set a $30.00 price target on shares of Intuitive Machines in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, B. Riley Financial decreased their price target on shares of Intuitive Machines from $43.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.75.

Intuitive Machines Company Profile

Intuitive Machines is a space exploration and infrastructure company headquartered in Houston, Texas. It develops and operates lunar landers and provides services intended to support missions to the Moon and other space destinations. The company’s offerings include lunar payload delivery, spacecraft and mission operations, and communications and data services. Its Nova-C lunar lander is designed to carry scientific instruments and other customer payloads to the lunar surface, including through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.