Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes $2.86 Million Position in Firefly Aerospace, Inc. $FLY

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLY) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 100,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,862,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FLY. LBP AM SA boosted its stake in Firefly Aerospace by 265.5% during the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 223,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,008,000 after acquiring an additional 162,617 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Firefly Aerospace by 233.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,773,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,987 shares during the last quarter. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Firefly Aerospace in the 4th quarter worth about $1,013,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Firefly Aerospace in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,090,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Firefly Aerospace by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 356,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,979,000 after purchasing an additional 20,359 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FLY has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Firefly Aerospace from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. B. Riley Financial assumed coverage on Firefly Aerospace in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Firefly Aerospace from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Firefly Aerospace from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Firefly Aerospace from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, June 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.64.

Firefly Aerospace Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FLY opened at $17.82 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.92. Firefly Aerospace, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.00 and a 52-week high of $73.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion and a P/E ratio of -2.19.

Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $80.88 million during the quarter. Firefly Aerospace had a negative return on equity of 40.96% and a negative net margin of 181.16%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($5.09) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Firefly Aerospace, Inc. will post -1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel David Leigh Wheeler sold 3,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.12, for a total transaction of $169,876.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 142,758 shares in the company, valued at $6,441,240.96. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) is a U.S.-based aerospace company that designs, manufactures and operates launch vehicles and in-space systems for commercial, civil and national security customers. The company focuses on providing end-to-end small- and medium-lift launch services, mission integration and spacecraft hardware to support satellite deployment and on-orbit operations.

Firefly’s product portfolio includes the Alpha small launch vehicle, developed to carry small satellites to low Earth orbit, and plans for larger vehicles and in-space capabilities to address a range of payload sizes and mission profiles.