SpaceX Shares Slip as Second Lockup Expiry Releases 319M Shares

Space Exploration Technologies Corp shares fell Thursday after the company's second post-IPO lockup expiration released approximately 319 million shares for trading.

SpaceX stock was among the weakest performers today. Why is SPCX stock down?

Second lockup expiry hits Thursday

Thursday's lockup expiry coincided with the 70th day of SpaceX's trading as a public company, following the first tranche's expiration two weeks ago that released approximately 912 million shares, lifting the company's public float from under 5% to over 12%.

The earlier unlock did not prevent shares from finding support recently. After new 13F filings showed several large institutions had built multi-billion-dollar positions in the company, SpaceX rose 4.17% on Monday to close at $145.84, a move that brought shares back above the $135 IPO price.

This is not the last supply increase investors will need to absorb. Another approximately 319 million shares are set to unlock on September 9, followed by additional releases on September 24, October 9, and October 24, with the final unlock occurring when the 180-day restriction period expires on December 8.

Despite recent share weakness, SpaceX holds a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $226.08 from 43 analysts. Recent analyst actions include:

UBS: Buy

Argus Research: Upgraded to Buy

Macquarie: Outperform

SPCX shares fall

SPCX price action: SpaceX shares fell 5.49% to $131.98 at the time of writing Thursday.