Traders Buy Large Volume of Virgin Galactic Call Options (NYSE:SPCE)

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 24,152 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 63% compared to the typical volume of 14,828 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Virgin Galactic in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $216,000. ABC Arbitrage SA grew its position in Virgin Galactic by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 73,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 18,465 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Virgin Galactic by 26.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,342,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,040,000 after buying an additional 496,373 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Virgin Galactic by 12.4% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 114,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 12,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. acquired a new position in shares of Virgin Galactic during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SPCE shares. Morgan Stanley set a $2.30 target price on shares of Virgin Galactic and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Susquehanna set a $3.50 price objective on Virgin Galactic in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Virgin Galactic in a research note on Friday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $4.20.

Virgin Galactic Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of SPCE traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $2.61. The company had a trading volume of 2,187,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,630,191. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 2.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.50 million, a P/E ratio of -0.35 and a beta of 2.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.36. Virgin Galactic has a 1 year low of $2.18 and a 1 year high of $6.64.

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.