Virgin Galactic Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SPCE)

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 34,880 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 168% compared to the average daily volume of 13,004 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Key Headlines Impacting Virgin Galactic

Here are the key news stories impacting Virgin Galactic this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Resumed ticket sales at a $750,000 fare — higher ticket pricing improves revenue per seat and signals management confidence in demand as flights near restart. Virgin Galactic Resumes Space Tourism Sales at $750,000 a Ticket
• Positive Sentiment: Operational progress: CEO said assembly of the first SpaceShip (SpaceShipThree) is nearly complete and ground testing is set to begin in April — a concrete milestone toward restarting flights. Virgin Galactic Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results and Provides Business Update
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial timeline set: the company is targeting commercial service in Q4 2026 and a flight cadence of 10+ flights/month by mid‑2027 — this provides a clearer path to recurring revenue. Virgin Galactic targets commercial service launch in Q4 2026 as flight cadence ramps to 10-plus per month by mid-2027
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish positioning in options: unusually large call buying (over 34k calls, ~168% above average) signals speculative and directional interest ahead of operational catalysts.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst tone: at least one upgrade notes execution is improving but warns timing and execution risks remain — helpful context but not a guarantee of sustained upside. Virgin Galactic: The Clock Is Ticking, But The Execution Gap Is Narrowing (Upgrade)
• Neutral Sentiment: Org changes: the appointment of a Chief Growth Officer aims to coordinate sales, partnerships and new spaceports — a strategic move but benefits will take time to materialize. A Look At Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Valuation After Appointing Its First Chief Growth Officer
• Negative Sentiment: Financials still weak: Q4 EPS beat (-$0.98 vs. est. -$1.12) but revenue was minimal and the company remains deeply unprofitable with large negative margins — long runway to meaningful profits. Virgin Galactic Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results and Provides Business Update

Virgin Galactic Trading Up 11.8%

NYSE SPCE opened at $2.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.34 million, a P/E ratio of -0.41 and a beta of 2.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.87. Virgin Galactic has a one year low of $2.13 and a one year high of $6.64.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $0.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.41 million. Virgin Galactic had a negative net margin of 18,063.93% and a negative return on equity of 108.78%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.53) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Virgin Galactic will post -16.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Virgin Galactic

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Virgin Galactic by 26.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Virgin Galactic by 149.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 573,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 343,444 shares during the period. 683 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Virgin Galactic during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $899,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Virgin Galactic by 118.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 479,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 260,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Virgin Galactic by 37,003.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 176,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 175,765 shares during the period. 46.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.